The Bond Phenomenon - Two Who Fight As One
by Glon Morski
Summary: "Greninja, it seems that you are somehow able to locate the vines. I don't know why only you possess that power, but I am in need of your assistance. Will you help us with your power?" For some reason, the way Zygarde was so certain the ability was Greninja's and Greninja's alone rubbed Ash the wrong way. He didn't know why, though. It made sense, didn't it? Canon interpretation OS


_**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Not the anime, not the games, nothing. This story was written for entertainment purposes only and is not used to get any sort of profit.**_

 **I hope you enjoy this monster :)**

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 **A short note before you read the story: As I'm sure you know, when Pokémon speak, they only say their own name, but they might pronounce the various syllables in varying manner, mostly by extending or shortening them (but not only). For instance, when Ash does his 'I got the X badge!' (or 'the *** _ **insert Z-crystal name here***_ **!' in case of Sun and Moon) pose, Pikachu will always cry 'piiiii pikachu!', extending the first 'pi'. As I find the repeated vowels to be annoying to read, I decided to instead use the following sign to show when a Pokémon was doing that: ~. So, the example above will be written 'pi~ pikachu!' in my story. If you know a better (grammatically correct?) sign to use/way to do that, please let me know and I'll correct the story accordingly.**

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 _The Bond Phenomenon – Two Who Fight As One_

Thinking back on it, the first weird thing that had happened was when he'd seen Chespie within the core of the Giant Rock. Despite the fact that there was a crystal-like, opaque wall that should have blocked his view of what was inside entirely. He hadn't really paid much thought to the how's or why's of the occurrence in the heat of the moment. They really had more important things to worry about than why or how he could see something that shouldn't technically be possible for him to see, after all. Let alone how or why Greninja had been able to see it, too, although considering he could see a battle field through both his own and Greninja's eyes at the same time when they fought using the Bond Phenomenon, that was probably as much explanation as they'd ever get.

The second time something odd occurred was after they'd gone to the wetlands so Goodra could stay there again after the League was over. The way back had seemed peaceful enough at first, but then all of a sudden, he had felt something off. He couldn't really describe what it had been. Something had just felt off. Dangerous, even. But he couldn't quite put his finger on what was making him feel that way. Or what exactly that feeling was. Before he'd even had a chance to start attempting to figure it out, Greninja had come out of his pokéball on his own – an extremely rare and worrying occurrence given it almost never happened, but coupled with his odd feeling of danger, it had really made him worry.

"Greninja, what's wrong?" he had asked, hoping the Ninja Pokémon would have a better idea than him. Assuming the water-and-dark type had felt something similar to what he had been feeling right then, anyway. The bipedal frog hadn't answered, though, and just had stood still for a moment, then had jumped back right before he would have been impaled by what had turned out to be one of the vines not unlike the ones Team Flare had called into existence when they had attempted to destroy Lumiose City – and right as that odd feeling the trainer couldn't describe had spiked and had made him even more aware that something dangerous had been near. He had thought then that the dangerous thing he'd sensed had been the vine and had pushed the question of how and why he'd been able to sense it out of his mind, focusing on the need to destroy it first. So he and Greninja had used the Bond Phenomenon transformation again, somehow knowing that they might both see something they hadn't before if they did, just like they had with Chespie and the Giant Rock. Which was also exactly what had happened. They had seen ominous red lines not unlike blood vessels in the vine itself and in the ground. He had quickly decided it was worth a try to destroy those and see if that would be enough to take care of the monstrous plant. And surprisingly, despite how impossible it had seemed to permanently get rid of the vines in Lumiose City and when they had faced the Giant Rock, one Water Shuriken had been all it had taken as the artery-like things had been severed and the odd, ominous red… whatever it really was had faded into nothing while the vine had retreated back into the ground with what had seemed to be a dying screech.

He had understood later that the red thing he'd seen was energy. The impossibility of the fact that he had _seen energy_ had only hit him further down the line, though. Once again, what he'd learned had been something he'd pushed into the back of his mind to think on later because something more important had been happening right then. Not the world-ending or Pokémon-saving kind of important this time, though, but important for him personally as Zygarde and Squishy (who was actually also Zygarde, but he couldn't help calling him Squishy after knowing him as such for months) had requested for Greninja to go with them in order to help them rid Kalos of the very vines he had destroyed with the bipedal frog's help beforehand. He couldn't be distracted in that situation, even less considering the Bond Phenomenon had still been in full swing, allowing him to know what Greninja had felt and thought. And what the Pokémon had felt was torn. On one hand, the water-and-dark type had realized he was supposed to go with Zygarde. That he _needed_ to go with the Order Pokémon. That this may have always been his calling, the reason why he'd always wanted to get stronger. That this was the perfect calling for him, too, considering he had always wanted strength, but only so he could protect others. But on the other hand, Greninja had not wanted to leave his trainer. And the trained had known that. He had known (and still knew) Greninja did not want to leave, but couldn't possibly ask him to come along, either. And he had also known the reason for it. That somewhere deep down, the Ninja Pokémon had been worried – if not downright afraid – that if he left, there would be no going back.

It might have only been because of the Bond Phenomenon that the Ninja Pokémon's trainer had known all of that so accurately, but he'd still known none the less. And so it had been his job as a trainer to focus on the problem at hand and deal with it. It had been his job to reassure Greninja, to let him know that he didn't need to worry because he'd always be welcomed back. And that they'd always be connected because their bond couldn't possibly break no matter how far apart they were. It had been his job to ensure Greninja could let go of his worries and just decide what he wanted to do without having any possible negative implications to worry about no matter what his decision would be. And so he'd done that and then let Greninja go with a smile despite feeling as sad as he always did when he had to release one of his Pokémon. One of his friends. One of his family. It was even harder than usual with Greninja since they were so close. Honestly, it had reminded him of that one time he'd been willing to release Pikachu when they'd found a wild herd of them in a forest. It had been similarly difficult. The only difference was, Greninja hadn't followed after him when he turned to leave and instead had been the one who actually left.

He knew it had been Greninja's choice and he accepted it. He also knew he'd continue to release his Pokémon in the future as well if they felt it would be best for them to go their separate ways from him. But accepting it never made the actual moment when he had to say goodbye any easier and it probably never would. Especially since considering that with how much he traveled around, it was actually unlikely he'd ever meet any of the friends he'd parted ways with again. The only one he'd really consistently reunited with over the course of his journeys had been Charizard. But other than that, he only saw his released Pokémon sporadically (like Bulbasaur when he went to Professor Oak's lab on occasion, as the Pokémon was both technically his and yet not, having a job at Oak's lab to keep peace between all the other Pokémon living there), only a single time (like the one time he actually came to a place a school of Lapras just happened to come to in Johto and it turned out his Lapras was a part of said school) or never again. Pidgeot was a prime example of that last category and not for his lack of want for the two of them to meet once more. He had just never been able to spot the bird anywhere when he crossed the Viridian Forest on his way home. Granted, he had never actually actively looked, just kept an eye out in case his friend was somewhere nearby, but the bird never was, likely too busy to look for its old trainer on the off chance he'd be in the forest on that particular day.

So yes, he accepted it when he needed to release his Pokémon, but no matter whether or not he really accepted it and no matter how many times he'd been in this situation, it never got any easier. That would be true for any of his Pokémon, as he was close to them all and they were all his precious friends. But Greninja, just like Pikachu, had been a special case. He had grown closer with the Ninja Pokémon than with any of his other Pokémon except Pikachu, so letting him go had been quite a bit harder than it had been with Goodra or anyone else before that. The fact that it had been so unexpected hadn't helped matters, either. Of course, knowing Greninja, he could always foolishly hope that once Kalos was safe, then his friend would come back to him. And if he had actually stayed in Kalos, maybe he would have believed it.

Thing was, he was a traveler and no matter how much he might want to wait for the possible return of one of his closest friends, it wouldn't be fair to his Pokémon or himself if he did that. Besides which, he liked to travel. He wouldn't be leaving home all the time if he didn't. So he wasn't staying in Kalos. He hadn't ever planned on staying after the league and he wasn't going to change his plans now. Case in point, he was already on the plane that would take him back to Kanto, flying far above the region he had traveled across with Clemont, Bonnie and Serena, Pikachu sleeping soundly on his lap.

With the electric mouse sound asleep and unaware of his mood, along with nothing else to distract him from things he hadn't been able to think about before, Ash found his mind wandering back to those very things. His and Greninja's odd abilities in particular.

The young trainer wasn't really sure what about those abilities worried him. Because 'worry' was really the best way for him to describe what he felt when he thought about them. Or Greninja, really. He didn't have a reason to worry, though, he knew that. Greninja was strong and he was with Zygarde. Plus, he had the ability to sense those vines, so it wasn't like he could be caught off guard by them. So why did Ash feel like he was missing something important? Something he shouldn't have missed and should have figured out long ago? Why did he feel like what Zygarde had said was wrong?

Because that was how he had felt. When the Order Pokémon had said that Greninja was somehow capable of sensing the roots, Ash had almost said that the assumption was wrong, but had stopped himself in the last moment because he had nothing to base such a reaction off of. It was true anyway. Greninja _did_ seem to be able to sense those vines and see the negative energy that called them into being.

It was just that somehow, _Ash_ could sense and see it, too. And while the Bond Phenomenon was a practical explanation for it and it only seemed right for the Pokémon to be the one with supernatural powers… somehow, Ash didn't feel convinced. He couldn't really say why that would be, though, hence why his thoughts turned in circles around the topic, trying (and failing) to find some sort of explanation or answer in the memories he had of the moments those abilities actually manifested. Not that there were really a lot of them, since it only seemed to happen after the league…

Which was another curious detail, he suddenly realized with a frown. Sure, it made sense considering that the vines weren't a problem before the league (or rather before Lysandre tried to destroy the world right after the league came to a close). However, it wasn't as if negative energy had never been in the air before or something like that. So why was Greninja able to sense and see it only _after_ the fiasco Team Flare caused?

Ash didn't know. And frankly, it annoyed him. It was yet another seemingly minor detail he couldn't quite grasp, yet one he felt he _needed_ to figure out as soon as possible. As if something really important depended on it. Like the fate of the world. Or the fate of a region. And while that might seem arrogant to some, Ash didn't have those thoughts in a self-important manner because he didn't think of all the world saving he did as anything particularly special – heck, he rarely even acknowledged he was saving the world (or at least a region or city) at all. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time most of the time and was just too stubborn and kind-hearted to stay out of trouble that didn't concern him. Besides, if it was world- or region-ending kind of trouble, then it _did_ concern him, thank you very much.

So, getting back on the topic of his and Greninja's abilities to see energy, of all things, and to be able to see _through solid objects_ : why did those abilities only seem to start really manifesting after the attack on Lumiose City? Why not before? It certainly wasn't like he and Greninja hadn't been determined to save someone or been caught off guard by something dangerous they had wished to have sensed coming earlier so as to not be surprised before…

A sudden memory flashed before his eyes. The memory of Lysandre trying to control Greninja and him by shooting them with mega-evolution energy. He shuddered a bit at the memory, both because of the pain he had been in when it had happened and because of the pain he knew Greninja had been put through, as well – which in all honesty infuriated him more, because people could do anything they wanted to him, but he would not stand for anyone hurting his Pokémon.

Another oddity occurred to him then. Greninja and he had both been shot with mega-evolution energy. Mega-evolution energy which Pokémon gave off when they mega-evolved. Considering that, it wasn't really surprising that Greninja had managed to shrug it off rather swiftly. But what about Ash? Why hadn't he been affected more by that? He wasn't a Pokémon, after all. He was a perfectly normal human. And there was no way the human body could be bombarded with Pokémon energy without any real repercussions, right?

The fact that he was perfectly fine had been able to shrug off the entire thing much like Greninja suggested otherwise. But it was still odd. And just like with every other detail about the whole thing that he didn't quite grasp, Ash felt like the answer to all his wonderings was actually obvious and that he should have figured it out ages ago. And yet he couldn't. What was he missing?

Maybe he was thinking about it wrong. No, he almost definitely was thinking about it wrong because his thoughts were completely disorganized. He needed to take a step back, take another look at the facts and start from there, rather than focusing on the annoying questions he had.

Some people might laugh and say Ash's attempt to coach himself to actually figure something out this way was laughable. And they'd be right to some extent. Ash had never been very smart, after all. Not the book-smart kind of smart, anyway. But that didn't mean he was an idiot that couldn't figure out the answer to a question if he had all the information he should theoretically need to find it. So to start at the very beginning: what did he know?

Well, he knew that he and Greninja could somehow sense and see negative energy within the vines. He also knew that they were capable of seeing through solid objects, as they'd been able to see Chespie inside the Giant Rock's core. And he knew that it started after Team Flare tried to destroy Lumiose City, and in particular after both he and Greninja had been exposed to mega-evolution energy.

The 'fact' that sensing the roots and seeing the energy was actually Greninja's ability, however, wasn't something he knew for certain now that he thought about it. It was something Zygarde had assumed and something that made sense because Greninja was a Pokémon and Pokémon had many amazing abilities humans couldn't even dream of. However, it didn't make sense if one considered that Ash's Greninja was the only one who could actually do that and even Zygarde couldn't pinpoint the vines' location as accurately as Greninja apparently could. The Bond Phenomenon might have been explained away by the fact that the bipedal frog and Ash had a very strong bond between them and that Greninja had a lot of latent power that could only be brought out this way, but Ash doubted everything special about Greninja (or any other Pokémon for that matter) could be explained that easily. Professor Oak and many other researches wouldn't have been spending their _entire lives_ researching Pokémon if that were the case, after all.

So if he left 'it was all thanks to Greninja' out of his list of facts, that left him with 'we can see through solid objects', 'we can see energy' and 'it started after we got hit by mega-evolution energy and _might_ be connected to that'. Which wasn't a whole lot of facts or much to really go on.

"Mommy, what is that Pokémon?" Ash heard a childish voice ask. Curiosity piqued by the question, the Kantonian glanced in the direction it had come from. But the child who had asked wasn't looking around or pointing at an actual Pokémon, but at a tablet. Probably where the picture of the Pokémon the kid was interested in was.

"It's written right here, see?" the woman sitting beside the kid said pointing to the screen and the child's face scrunched up in concentration.

"Lu… ca… r… io…" the kid – a young girl – read slowly before beaming at her mother proudly. "Lucario. That's its name, right mommy?"

"Correct, dear," the woman said with a smile and the little girl's smile became even wider. Her expression was very excited, too.

"It looks so strong… Mommy, do you think I could have a Lucario when I become a trainer?"

"Of course you can, dear. If you can catch one, of course."

"I will. I definitely will."

Ash smiled slightly to himself and looked away. The little girl had only seen a picture, but she was already very clearly impressed with the steel-and-fighting type. Ash wasn't surprised. The first time he had seen a Lucario, he had been impressed, too. He remembered the meeting very clearly, too, though admittedly not only for positive reasons. Said Lucario's fate being one of them.

It had happened when he had still been traveling around with May, Max and Brock a couple of years ago. And more accurately, when they had visited Cameran Palace. The Lucario Ash had met then hadn't been like any other he ever met afterwards. Yes, all Lucario were Aura Pokémon… but no Lucario except the one Ash met in while traveling through Kanto a second time to beat the Battle Frontier, the Lucario that had been sealed away in a staff for centuries, had seemed to be quite as capable to use Aura.

Aura. As far as Ash understood, Aura was energy that every living being had on one hand, but an energy that was specific to one given person on the other. Some people were so-called Aura Adepts, meaning they could control and manipulate their own Aura. And if they were trained, then they were considered Aura Guardians. The Lucario Ash had met in the Cameran Palace was one such Aura Guardian. Or at least Ash had always considered him one.

That very same Lucario had said that Ash's aura resembled his partner from centuries past and also an Aura Guardian: Sir Aaron. And because circumstanced had called for it, Ash had at one point decided to test the theory and tried to manipulate his Aura to share with Mew to save the Pokémon and the Tree of Life along with Lucario.

It had worked.

Crazy as it was, now that he thought about it, it had actually worked. He had manipulated his Aura for the first time then and while he never even considered really training himself in using that power, it didn't change the fact that he could, in theory, use it. He was an Aura Adept, essentially. He had thought it awesome at first and had tried to use his powers more. And he had managed, somehow, though it never came easily. But eventually, the novelty wore off and he pushed the knowledge of his own special ability to the back of his mind, basically forgetting all about it.

When he had still been interested in it and found it nothing short of awesome, though, he'd even gone as far as try to find some books on the matter, mostly to find other things he could try to do. That was how he found out seeing through solid objects was another thing Aura Guardians could do if properly trained. And Lucario had told him himself that it was possible to see with Aura by seeing the Aura of others – it was the reason Lucario had mistaken Ash for Sir Aaron at first, even.

Considering that Aura was the energy of a living being, that would mean that if properly trained to do so, Aura Adepts could actually _see the energy_ of others.

Ash had thought that would be totally awesome when he'd found out about it. He'd thought the same about being able to see through walls and solid objects in general. And of course, back then, he'd tried but had never succeeded.

There wasn't any reason for his abilities in manipulating Aura to suddenly evolve, making him capable of both those things without training, though, was there? Of course not. He hadn't been able to do it before and he had never really trained himself in manipulating Aura. So there was no way he'd suddenly be able to do it now without some kind of external help.

He blinked again at the thought. External help. Like something that could amplify or otherwise stimulate his aura – his _energy_ – so that he could use it with less difficulty if he really needed it. Something like… mega-evolution energy…?

He shook his head. No. No way. There was no way… was there?

He was pretty sure it wasn't normal for a person to be shot with energy usually released by _Pokémon_ for several minutes and then shake it off less than a minute after it stopped while only collapsing briefly one single time. Lysandre might not have thought it could kill him if he resisted being mind-controlled for long enough, but given how painful it had been, Ash was actually willing to admit that it might have. It had felt as if something had tried to rip him limb from limb.

Not that he'd ever admit it to anyone, of course. Especially since he was fine now.

So it was likely that overexposure to mega-evolution energy might have actually killed him. It clearly hadn't because he was still alive, but being exposed to it _had_ hurt more than anything Ash had ever experienced – which was saying a lot. And yet all that pain disappeared ridiculously fast once the machines shooting the red energy had been destroyed. Sure, part of it might have been him simply ignoring the pain he was in because there was something more important going on and because he had no time to focus on his own discomfort. He would be the first to admit, if only to himself and no one else, that he was prone to doing that. There was a limit to how much pain (or tiredness or whatever other discomfort might be trying to hold him back at any given moment something 'more important' was going on) he could ignore, though. And even assuming he had just managed to ignore it until things calmed down, once the adrenaline and need to just keep going wore off, the pain should have caught up with him. But it never had and nothing was physically wrong with him.

Physically. That was the key word in that stamen, wasn't it. He hadn't been physically assaulted, after all. What had been fired at him hadn't been a gun with ammunition that could physically harm his body. It had been pure energy, nothing else. Who was to say the damage it had done, or had tried to do, had been to his physical body and not to his own life energy? Who was to say the pain he had felt had been physical and not that he had only assumed it had been because that was what anyone else would have assumed? Who was to say the pain hadn't actually come from the interaction between the mega-evolution energy that had no right to be in his body and the energy that always was and always would be his own – his Aura? Who was to say Lysandre's attempt to control him hadn't fundamentally changed something within Ash on a spiritual level, rather than a physical one?

No one. No one could say any of that. No one, that is, but maybe Ash himself. Only he wasn't equipped with the knowledge and/or experience necessary to answer these kinds of questions.

But if that really were the case, then it would make sense on various levels. For one, it would explain why these abilities manifested only after he and Greninja had been exposed to mega-evolution energy, because that could have somehow stimulated Ash's Aura abilities to the point that he was able to use them this way when he hadn't been able to before.

Then again, he had only really been able to see those things when Greninja became Ash-Greninja. So maybe it was Greninja's ability after all, and Ash just siphoned off of it? It wasn't unthinkable, given the Bond Phenomenon allowed Ash to literally see through Greninja's eyes. But on the other hand, when they'd come across that first root… Greninja hadn't been transformed then. The blue frog hadn't even come out of his pokéball when Ash first sensed something off. He only came out _afterwards_.

Of course, it was also true that Greninja had always proved to be able to somehow sense things (or people) when others missed them, even when he was still a Froakie. But to be fair, he wasn't the only one and many other Pokémon were capable of it. The way they did it might vary, but a lot of Pokémon could sense danger or a person hiding in the bushes. It wasn't a special ability to Pokémon, it was just part of what they were. And how they actually detected these things depended on the Pokémon. For example, Ash knew Pikachu relied mostly on his hearing and sometimes on his sense of smell. Both of those senses were sharper than a human's, so Pikachu could pick up someone's presence long before Ash did and had done that more than once already. Alternatively, the electric mouse could use electricity to find other electrical Pokémon and even communicate with them. So being able to 'sense' something being 'off' wasn't really all that special among Pokémon. The only mystery was how exactly Greninja did it, but considering the other problem on Ash's mind, that question seemed irrelevant, so he let it go.

Back to the matter of the vines, there was also the fact that the Ninja Pokémon hadn't acted like he had been able to see the red lines of energy before they activated the Bond Phenomenon. If it really was Greninja's ability, however, he should have been able to see them whether he transformed into Ash-Greninja or not. Or at least that was what Ash thought.

He groaned, feeling like he was thinking in circles and getting nowhere. He was starting to get a headache, too. Trying to ignore the growing pain, he glanced out the window. It was already dark and a quick look at the clock told him he was already more than half-way through their flight. It was best to use the remaining time to get some rest or he wouldn't be getting back to Pallet Town anytime soon once they landed because he'd be too tired to go anywhere.

If only he had some way to verify his thoughts… to verify whether or not what he had just thought of could actually be true…

XxX

Ash got his chance to verify his hypothesis about two hours after he left the kantonian airport and headed off towards Pallet Town. And he had his amazing ability to always be 'in the right place at the right time' (or the wrong place at the wrong time, depending who you asked) to thank for it. Or to put it another way, he seemed to be some kind of trouble magnet, because even though he wasn't looking for it, it always managed to find him. And even his way home by his lonesome (not counting Pikachu) couldn't be any different, it seemed.

The trouble in question hadn't been anything he hadn't seen before. Just another Pokémon rampaging in the city for some unknown reason. He'd been told to stay away from the district it was currently at – and better even to evacuate with the rest of the town's inhabitants in case it decided to move its rampage and destruction to another part of town – by Officer Jenny when he ran into her and asked for information. But of course, Ash wouldn't be Ash if he listened to what the police told him to do. And so of course, instead of doing as he was told, he did the exact opposite and headed straight where said Pokémon was. Who knew, maybe he'd be able to calm it down. Every other Pokémon he'd seen rampaging in a city before had always had some kind of reason for acting the way it did, after all. One only needed to figure out what that reason was and take care of the root of the problem, rather than trying to remove the Pokémon in question by force. If that was even possible, because that wasn't always the case. It might have been with Garchomp when Team Rocket's machinery made the poor dragon type go rampant in Lumiose City (though thankfully no one had thought to try that before Ash somehow got there first), but that one time he witnessed a Tentacruel and an army of Tentacool basically _invading_ a city with clear intent to destroy everything in it, it had definitely been impossible to deal with the problem by driving the Water Pokémon off.

This time, the Pokémon he saw rampaging in the streets was a Nidoking. And as per usual, Ash had tried to just talk to him at first. He always tried that, despite knowing it would likely fail. It hadn't even worked with Garchomp, not really, and he had _known_ what the problem was that time. He still tried anyway, but in the end, the enraged Pokémon ended up attacking him and he had a choice between fleeing and fighting back.

Pikachu made the decision for him by firing a Thunderbolt at the Nidoking before Ash could tell him not to. In the mouse's defense, however, he had done that to stop the other Pokémon from advancing, its horn already glowing as it prepared to use a Megahorn on them. Pikachu was only defending Ash and as much as the Kantonian might dislike the fact that it forced them into a battle with what was likely a misunderstood Pokémon, he wasn't stupid enough to scold Pikachu for caring.

What was done was done anyway and if they ran now, Nidoking was sure to follow wherever they went. Because if it had been enraged before for some unknown reason, then it was definitely _pissed off_ now. And that was despite the fact that Pikachu's Thunderbolt shouldn't have had much of an effect since Nidoking was part ground type.

"Nidoking! Calm down! We don't want to fight you!" he tried to talk him down anyway, but the enraged Pokémon wasn't listening. His horn glowed again as he tried to get a hit in with another Megahorn. This time, however, he didn't aim for Ash, but went straight for Pikachu.

Foolish as it was, the young trainer might have tried to just take the hit or to jump out of the way and then talk the Pokémon down again if the attack had been aimed at him. But he wasn't going to stand by and do nothing when it was Pikachu who was being attacked by a rampaging, wild Pokémon.

"Dodge it, Pikachu!" he called and the electric type obeyed without fail, just as he always did. Nidoking roared when his target escaped and its tail slammed heavily into the ground, sending debris into the air as the concrete and asphalt had already been plenty cracked and abused by the poison-and-ground type's previous rampage. Ash reacted almost immediately.

"Quick Attack!"

"Pika!" the Mouse Pokémon called back in acknowledgement, his body already glowing white before he took off. Ash had only called the name of the move and nothing else, but he didn't need to add any specifications for Pikachu to know what he meant. Jumping from slab of concrete to slab of concrete, the yellow rodent used his natural speed coupled with the speed of the Quick Attack to get out of the way of the debris (and thus any harm) – and directly behind Nidoking. Ash took the opportunity.

"Iron Tail!" he called, barely finishing the name before Pikachu jumped up and towards Nidoking swiftly, his tail already glowing white as he executed the called move.

"Chu~-PIKA!" The Iron Tail met its mark, hitting Nidoking straight in the jaw as he turned around. The Drill Pokémon roared and staggered backwards as Pikachu landed on the ground. However, he only seemed even more enraged than before, if that was even possible. Opening his mouth, the purple creature gathered orange energy that Ash recognized as a Hyper Beam, and prepared to fire it at the much smaller Pokémon at nearly point blank range.

"Pikachu, get some distance and dodge when it fires!" the young trainer called, and it was only Pikachu's speed combined with his amazing reaction time to Ash's commands that allowed him to avoid the worst of the attack. But he hadn't been quite fast enough to dodge entirely and the Hyper Beam burned his side, causing the electric mouse to cry out and lose his balance. "PIKACHU!" Ash called worriedly, but thankfully, his partner was quick to get back on his feet, cheeks sparking with electricity to show he was ready for round two. Ash released a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding – just as he always did when one of his Pokémon took a powerful blow he had thought they'd be able to dodge.

One might wonder why the young trainer didn't call for the help of any of his other Pokémon in this situation. He might have left Goodra and Greninja in Kalos, but he still had four other Pokémon that would be more than willing to help out in the pokéballs at his belt. But Ash didn't even think about reaching for any of them. He didn't think about it because he was aware that if he did, the already enraged Nidoking would take that as a clear sign of aggression. It was already hard enough to attempt to calm the Drill Pokémon down, if he sent an additional fighter into the fray, it would become downright impossible.

The idea of just knocking Nidoking out and be done with it didn't even cross Ash's mind, because it wasn't an acceptable solution. Heck, it wasn't even a solution, period, because they still didn't know what caused Nidoking's rampage in the first place. However, at the rate things were going, they weren't going to find out anything anyway, because the purple poison-and-ground type clearly wasn't going to back down, either. He proved that by firing another Hyper Beam at Pikachu, but this time, the yellow mouse had more than enough time to dodge.

The wild Pokémon seemed to be expecting it, though. Maybe he'd even counted on it, because in the next moment, he was right in front of Pikachu, one of his feet raised to perform what could only be a Double Kick.

"Counter it with Iron Tail!"

"Chu~-PIKA!" Foot met tail and for a split second, Pikachu's speed contested against Nidoking's strength and weight before the smaller Pokémon was thrown back, his tail losing its glow. However, Pikachu was able to recover by flipping in the air so as to land on his feel. Nidoking, on the other hand, seemed to have been at least slightly destabilized, and so the second kick of his attack hit the building behind Pikachu instead of the electric type himself. Still, just to be on the safe side and following Ash's command, Pikachu had dodged out of the way, thus gaining a bit more distance between himself and the wild Pokémon.

As for the building that took the brunt of half of a Double Kick, while it wasn't a skyscraper, by any means, it was still taller than Nidoking was. And already pretty beat up. That last kick seemed to be more than it could handle as the concrete cracked and a thick slab of debris fell off, gravity sending it to the earth – and more importantly towards Nidoking – at an amazing speed. The wild Pokémon looked up, but seemed to be far too surprised despite its earlier rage to react in time. Ash, for his part, acted on instinct, experience, and trust in his partner's strength.

"Electro-Ball!" he called and Pikachu quickly jumped into the air, eyes focused on his now moving target and electricity quickly gathering at the tip of his tail and forming a decently-sized, sparking ball.

"Pikapikapikapikapikapikapikapika-CHU PI!" The electric mouse somersaulted in the air, sending the ball of electricity straight towards the falling concrete. It made contact a mere meter or so above Nidoking, causing a small explosion and creating a decently sized dust cloud as the debris was pretty much pulverized. The purple Pokémon was still standing in the same spot, staring upwards and Ash thought he might have actually calmed down. So the young trainer carefully yet quickly approached the wild poison-and-ground type. After all, in his experience, something like this was usually more than enough to convince any Pokémon that he didn't mean them any harm – he could admit the efficiency of the tactic, even if he hated the idea of putting Pokémon in actual danger and thus never did it on purpose, after all.

"Nidoking, are you alright?" he asked, easily getting the Pokémon's attention. That, however, along with his assumption that the Drill Pokémon was actually calm, turned out to be a grave mistake and in the next moment, Ash found himself with a Focus Blast flying straight at him with a speed he couldn't possibly hope to dodge. He didn't, either. In fact, he barely had the time to raise one arm in front of his face in a defensive manner, the other being held out as if he could actually hope to stop the attack from advancing on him that way, before the Focus Blas made contact.

"PIKAPI!" Pikachu all but screamed in clear worry (if not downright horror). He had every reason to be worried, all things considered. Or he would have if something totally unexpected hadn't happened.

"I'm… fine, Pikachu," Ash replied, the hesitation in his words caused by the simple fact that it was the undeniable, yet incomprehensible truth. He really was fine. He didn't feel like he had been hit with a Pokémon's attack and certainly not at nearly point blank range. In fact, he hadn't even felt any kind of impact. Had Nidoking missed?

No, he hadn't. The look on the poison-and-ground type's face when he saw Ash unharmed in front of him made it clear he hadn't missed, nor had he intended to miss. But then, how was Ash completely unharmed?

The answer revealed itself a moment later, when the young trainer noticed a soft, blue light in front of him. A flickering wall of energy that disappeared within a second or two of his noticing it. He blinked, not understanding and lowered his hand – which had curiously been at the exact level of the odd, blue light-wall. For a second or two, he started at his palm, as if the sight of his unharmed skin and perfectly untouched gloves would give him the answer as to what just happened. But then Nidoking roared, turned and stomped off. And Ash, as was his habit, put the odd occurrence into the back of his mind to think on later because 'something more important was going on right now'. He called for Nidoking to wait and not leave, but of course, the wild (and still angry) Pokémon did not listen.

Ash and Pikachu wanted to go after it, but they were stopped by Officer Jenny who arrived at the scene just then and thoroughly scolded Ash for not having evacuated. The young trainer only listened with one ear and allowed her rant to go out the other straight away. It wasn't as if he hadn't heard similar speeches before, nor was he going to act any different the next time something like this happened (because he just knew it would happen eventually). He had the decency to sincerely apologize to the police officer for his 'reckless behavior', however, and while he wasn't really sorry about trying to talk Nidoking down, he was sorry for causing trouble for Officer Jenny.

Still, it was funny how in such situations, Officer Jenny (or any other figure of authority, for that matter) only happened to arrive at the scene _after_ Ash had both gotten himself into trouble or a battle _and_ back out of it. The young trainer didn't believe Officer Jenny had just been spectating his and Pikachu's battle, by any means, but it was still a rather… convenient coincidence whenever it happened – meaning every time he was in a similar situation, really.

As anyone who knew him should have expected (which wasn't the case with this Officer Jenny), Ash then insisted to help her resolve the issue, still firmly believing there was a good reason for Nidoking to act the way he had, rather than the Pokémon just being on an unexplainable rampage that had to be stopped by any means. In the end, he was proven right, too. Turned out Nidoking's mate, a Nidoqueen, and their three eggs had been captured by poachers. Since Nidoqueen had tried to put up a fight to protect her eggs, she was in pretty bad shape by the time the local Nurse Joy could take care of her. It was really no wonder Nidoking had lost it the way he had when one took that into account and Ash had to seriously work on keeping his temper in check when he thought about those people or the pain they caused to an innocent Nido-couple and their unborn children. He never had any understanding for people capturing Pokémon the way poachers did only to sell them off for profit. He had even less understanding for poachers who'd hurt the Pokémon they caught on purpose or just because they could. If there was one type of person he truly, honestly hated, it would be people like those poachers.

With the problem of the rampaging Nidoking resolved, the people of the town were free to return to their homes – assuming they haven't been destroyed, in which case they would be temporarily placed at the Pokémon center until a better lodging could be provided for them until the damages to the town were repaired. And as for Ash, he was free to continue on his way to Pallet Town, which he decided to do since it wasn't all that far. By his calculation he'd be home after dark, but not overly late into the night, so he should be fine.

The entire rest of the way to Pallet Town, he was distracted by the memory of that flickering wall of light that had somehow blocked that Focus Blast. It had seemed familiar to him, but it took him a moment to remember exactly where he had seen something similar before. No, not just similar. The exact same thing.

It had been in Sinnoh. More specifically, it had been when he, Brock and Dawn ended up with Riley on Iron Island. Riley was an Aura Adept training to be an Aura Guardian along with his Lucario. And both he and the Aura Pokémon that was his partner had more than proved their abilities. Riley had used his Aura not only to shield Ash and his friends from his own Lucario's attacks when Team Galactic's machine had made the fighting-and-steel type go crazy with pain, and then to protect Dawn from a Steelix the same way, but he and Lucario had even confined and _explosion meant to destroy the entire island_ and send it up into the air to detonate safely. And when they had used their Aura in that manner, it had been the same as what Ash had somehow managed to do to protect himself from that Focus Blast. The only difference there had been the form. Where Riley had made a sphere or a dome, Ash had only managed a flimsy wall. But considering the Kantonian had never trained to use his Aura at all, that was astounding in its own right.

Especially since he'd never been able to do that before. And he had tried a few times shortly after visiting Cameran Palace, out of sheer curiosity and maybe some foolish hope he'd be able to do it against all odds. So he knew he hadn't been, and still shouldn't be, able to do that kind of thing. And yet somehow, he had. With definitely far less difficulty than should be normal, especially considering the key fact that _he_ _had never been trained_.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu's voice interrupted Ash's thoughts. The electric type was looking at him quizzically, even questioningly, from where he sat on his trainer's shoulder. The electric mouse was probably wondering what the matter was. Because let's face it, Ash only ever got as distracted (or focused, depending on who you asked) as he was now when something was wrong or when the situation otherwise called for it. Outside of world/region-ending situations and Pokémon battles (or preparations for them), the young trained didn't seem like (and wasn't) much of a pensive kind of guy. In fact, the trait that best defined Ash was that he acted long before he thought about whether or not what he was about to do was actually a good (or safe) idea. He didn't usually stop to think things through. He was the type of person who preferred action over just pondering stuff, the kind of guy who always pushed forward because it was better to try to do something than to sit around doing nothing even if he had no idea what to actually do, a trainer who followed his gut and instincts to such an extend one might think his mind had no analytic capabilities at all.

Not that that was true. He never would have come up with half of his strategies for Pokémon battles if that was the case. And while yes, more often than not the strategies that ended up allowing him to win a battle were thought up on the spot to adapt to changing circumstance, it wasn't as if he liked to go into a battle without any pre-thought strategy or plan and winged it all the time.

It was just that the time he usually spent thinking was at night when everyone else slept… or during world-ending catastrophes where he had to stop and think for five minutes before charging in unless he wanted to risk himself and, more importantly, all his friends getting killed. Not in the middle of a pretty average, random day while traveling. So it was kind of understandable that Pikachu thought the occurrence odd, even if the electric mouse didn't think his trainer was as much of an idiot as he might sometimes seem to be. Or at least Ash hoped Pikachu didn't think that.

"It's nothing, buddy. Just got something on my mind," he told the Mouse Pokémon and Pikachu tilted his head to the side, his expression making it rather obvious that he didn't seem convinced. Which Ash really should have expected, considering how long the yellow rodent had known him and just how much they had been through together. If there was anyone out there who'd know just how prone Ash was to say 'it's nothing' just to keep his friends from worrying when something was actually bothering him, it would be Pikachu.

"Pika-pika chu-pika-pikachu pi?" the electric type prodded and Ash raised a hand to pat him on the head in reassurance.

"It's really nothing you need to worry about, Pikachu. I was just wondering about how that Nidoking's Focus Blast never actually hit me even though it should have," he said and Pikachu tensed for a brief moment at the mention of that particular occurence. But the Mouse Pokémon relaxed quickly enough under his trainer's gentle petting and proceeded to give him a flat look. Of course, Ash wasn't lying. He _had_ been thinking about that. It just wasn't the main thing on his mind right now, but rather a piece of a growing puzzle he felt he needed to solve ever since he got on that plane from Kalos to Kanto. That he had to solve it because it was important. And Pikachu was clearly perfectly aware that Ash wasn't telling him everything.

"Pikachu~," the electric mouse said in a sighing manner, his ears drooping a bit and his eyes closing briefly before he looked at Ash again. And then he leaned towards his face and nuzzled his cheek with the top of his yellow head. "Pikapika pi-pikachu pi-pi~kachu-pi," he muttered and Ash grinned, his fingers curling to gently scratch Pikachu under his chin. The electric type responded to the gesture with a blissful 'cha~'.

"I know, buddy. Thanks," the young trainer told his best friend, easily understanding what Pikachu meant. As per usual, the yellow rodent knew exactly when to push Ash for answers, and when to just let the matter drop and allow the Kantonian to think through the possible problem on his own. Though of course, not without reminding him that he was always there to listen if Ash finally felt like sharing his problems with someone else. Of course, it was unlikely that Ash would, but frankly, just knowing the possibility was there if he ever changed his mind was more than enough for him.

XxX

Sadly, be the time he got home, he was no closer to figuring things out than he had been on the plane. Or at least he didn't feel like he was.

He had tried to sort his thoughts and assumptions into something that might make sense for almost the entire rest of his walk home, to the point that he only really noticed he was already in Pallet Town when he was standing in front of his front door. Thankfully, his calm and slightly exhausted-sounding 'I'm home', so different from his usual, hyperactive behavior when he returned, was easily chucked up to the late hour and long road so his mother didn't question him.

It was far harder to hide his seemingly-out-of-character pensiveness in the coming days, however. Especially since he had yet to mention going on yet another journey to yet another region straight away, a fact that his mother Delia was definitely happy about… but also knew not to be normal for her son. Ash tried to calm her down by saying he simply hadn't decided on the next region he'd visit yet, and his mother seemed to buy the excuse for now, but Ash knew that wouldn't last.

Not that it was really a lie. He was so preoccupied with trying to figure out what was bugging him about his apparent ability to use Aura better now and what it could mean for the entire puzzle about the ability Greninja seemed to have that had made Zygarde ask the Shinobi Frog to stay and help it protect Kalos that he really hadn't given another journey a thought. However, the fact remained that staying home without mentioning going off on a journey again for even as much as week wasn't like him at all. He'd been itching to go on a Pokémon journey since long before he was ten – and thus old enough to get his first Pokémon and actually go on a journey – and even once he was old enough to do it, he was always impatient to go off somewhere else and visit new places after one of his journeys was over. Ash knew it. His mother knew it. Professor Oak knew it. _Everyone_ knew it.

And unless he got it together and started acting like he usually did, then someone was going to notice something was off. Most likely Professor Oak. Or worse, his mother.

Ash had never been as glad about the fact that news of what happened in other regions never seemed to reach Kanto – or at least Pallet Town… or maybe just his own home – unless it involved a Pokémon League as he had been after the Kalos Crisis. Because he was certain that if his mother even had so much as an inkling about what happened, let alone how Ash had been in the thick of it from beginning to end and how Lysandre had actually specifically targeted him, she would never let him out of her sight again.

It wasn't that he particularly enjoyed lying to her (or omitting more than half of the stuff that happened to him on a more-or-less regular basis in this case), but it was a kind of silent agreement they'd worked out after what happened at the Orange Islands when Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres had started to fight and caused Lugia to come as well to try and stop them. A fiasco that had also nearly brought on the end of the world (or at least the utter annihilation of the Orange Islands) thanks to the meteorological catastrophe that had been caused by all of that. A meteorological catastrophe that even reached parts of Kanto, since the Orange Islands weren't that far off, thus prompting the news to talk about it. Which of course had meant his mother knew _exactly_ just how far in the thick of it he had been. And she'd been understandably worried, although Ash had clearly failed to realize such an obvious fact right after everything calmed down because he'd been far too focused on being relieved that everything had worked out in the end.

That had been the first and last time Delia had been aware of as much as even a half of the shenanigans Ash could (and did) get into. He never told her about anything because he didn't want her to worry, and she didn't ask because she didn't want to know. He suspected it was her way of trying to be accepting. If she knew half of the trouble that usually found him, she'd understandably want to keep him at home where he was more likely to be safe. Only Ash would have hated that and his mother knew it. And so they agreed on the consensus that what Delia didn't know wouldn't hurt (or worry) her, allowing her to keep supporting Ash in following his dreams so long as Ash promised to at least _try_ to stay out of danger. Of course, that didn't mean she didn't know anything or worry at all – she knew him, after all. But this way, it was all on a manageable level for them both, at least.

And he did try to keep out of trouble, not that that helped a whole lot. But to be fair, the Kalos Crisis hadn't been something he had chosen to get involved in, unlike other fiascos he'd eventually gotten into because he couldn't turn a blind eye. No, that time, he'd actually been forced to be in the middle of it because Team Flare had specifically targeted Greninja and him.

But that was another thing his mother was blissfully unaware of, at least as far as any kind of detail went. And because she was unaware of the details, she didn't overly worry and had nothing against him going off on another journey. Only he was so stuck on thinking about Kalos, Zygarde, Greninja and his apparently budding Aura abilities (and trying to make sense of all of that) that he hadn't even considered another journey, which was bound to be noticed as odd and then worrying eventually. Probably soon, even.

The dreams didn't help, either. Ash never remembered what he dreamed about at night, but since he'd come back home, he woke up each morning with odd, residual feelings that he only could explain to himself by assuming he had some kind of dream that made him feel that way. It was mostly the same feelings each and every time. Determination to achieve something, slight but temporary confusion, a sense of accomplishment… and some marginal sadness, as if he'd been missing someone but tried not to think about it. And no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't for the life of him figure out what he could have dreamed about that would call for such an odd mix of feelings in him, just like he couldn't figure out what had been really bugging him about Zygarde's words since Greninja had left with Squishy and the Order Pokémon. And just like in the case of that puzzle, Ash felt as though he should have been able to find the explanation to it easily. Which was nothing short of infuriating. And that, in turn, made him often go into the empty fields or even the Viridian Forest at odd hours of the day so he could burn off some steam and get rid of said frustration through running, yelling, or a mix of both, much like he had done after his loss to Wulfric at the Snowbell City Gym, without anyone noticing and realizing even sooner that something really was bothering him immensely. Because he didn't want people to worry about him. And because he wouldn't have been able to explain what his problem was even if he wanted to.

Not that the running and yelling helped. Yes, his motto had been some variation of 'if you don't know what to do, you just need to keep moving forward and you'll figure it out eventually' for a longer while now (almost always, even) – but the problem was, right now, he didn't feel like he had anywhere to move forward _to_. Not to mention that he kind of worried that if he just moved forward and 'figured it out eventually', he'd figure it out too late this time around. He really was starting to feel more and more anxious for some reason as the days passed.

He sighed and moved to lay down on the grass, gazing at the sky. He was at Professor Oak's ranch right now and Pikachu and his other Pokémon had wandered off to explore the place in the Kalos newcomers' case, and to find old friends to catch up with in Pikachu's case, leaving Ash temporarily alone. Not that he minded in that particular moment.

Ok, so maybe it wouldn't get him anywhere again, but let's review the facts – the pieces of the puzzle that was the question of just why the entire thing bothered him as much as it did – again. What did he know?

One, he and Greninja could see through solid objects, much like people trained in the manipulation of Aura could do, when they activated the Bond Phenomenon (for lack of a better way to put it).

Two, he and Greninja could sense and see negative energy (and possibly other kind of energy, too, if they put their mind to it) when they activated the Bond Phenomenon, allowing them both to sense the roots that threatened Kalos and the best place to strike to destroy them. Seeing energy was also something people trained in manipulating Aura could do.

Three, both of those abilities seemed to have started manifesting after… no, _during_ the Kalos Crisis in the second case. But more specifically, it had started after Greninja and he had been exposed to mega-evolution energy. Greninja had shrugged it off with relative ease. Which was only slightly odd, since he _was_ a Pokémon and mega-evolution energy had always been given off by mega-evolving Pokémon… only Greninja didn't really mega-evolve as far as Ash knew. Or at least Professor Sycamore had told him that Greninja as a species weren't known to be mega-evolving Pokémon and Ash knew _his_ Greninja didn't, either. As for Ash himself, the exposure to the mega-evolution energy had been painful, but he had also eventually shrugged it off once the exposure had been interrupted – with more trouble than Greninja and needing a few more seconds than the Ninja Pokémon, but still rather rapidly if he really thought about it.

Four, as he realized on his way back to Pallet Town, Ash was also able to use his Aura with more ease now despite still never having trained himself in the ability and having honestly forgotten almost all about it up until now. His ability to manipulate that energy, however, seemed erratic at best. Yes, he managed to protect himself from a Nidoking's Focus Blast by a sheer stroke of luck, but anything else he'd consciously tried since then had been as fruitless as it had been when he first found out Aura even existed, let alone that it could be manipulated and that _he_ could be capable of doing that.

Knowing all of that, if he went back to the first real theory he'd tried to make up on the plane, that could lead him to assume two things were possible. Either Zygarde had been right all along and the abilities the Order Pokémon had said to be Greninja's really were Greninja's, or they were actually Ash's Aura abilities that the Shinobi Frog got an access to via their bond whenever he transformed, just like Ash could see a battle through the blue amphibian's eyes in the same circumstances. Both of those ideas, however, had one glaring problem. A question Ash couldn't possibly find an answer to.

If the ability really was just his or just Greninja's, how come it only really manifested when they activated the Bond Phenomenon and Greninja transformed into Ash-Greninja? Because the young trainer knew that to be the case for himself, it definitely only happened when they battled as one. And he was pretty sure the same went for Greninja. The way the water-and-dark type had reacted to seeing the negative energy in the roots in particular seemed to be a clear enough indication for that. After all, if Greninja had seen the energy _before_ transforming into Ash-Greninja, he likely would have had the idea to try and sever it and tried it out before Ash told him to. But he hadn't. He transformed first, seemed to see the red lines only right afterward just like Ash did and thought to try and sever them at around the same time as the Kantonian – a thing Ash was positive about since he basically _talked_ with Greninja during those few seconds. That was another thing the Bond Phenomenon seemed to make them capable of. Ash and Greninja could talk to each other while the bond was activated. Not in the usual human-to-pokéspeak that Pokémon seemed to have no problems with, but which only some humans could understand (and even then they could mostly only just understand what the Pokémon meant and not exact words, as was the case with Ash and his Pokémon by now), but actually talking without a language barrier between them. Even over relatively large distances like would be the case for Telepathy. And thanks to that, Ash was really pretty confident that Greninja, just like him, had not been able to see the energy before transforming into Ash-Greninja. And from there, the young trainer assumed it would have been the same with Chespie, too, had the Shinobi Frog not already been transformed then.

Why was that?

That was the problem he was currently stuck on. And just like with everything else, he had the annoying feeling that the answer should be obvious. That he should know this and not have to wonder. That he was an idiot to not realize something so obvious.

He really hated that feeling.

Getting frustrated with himself again, Ash groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He was getting nowhere again. Maybe he should just drop the entire thing. It was probably nothing, anyway.

And yet he couldn't just force himself to stop thinking about it. The entire issue just kept popping up in his mind and he felt more and more like he needed to hurry up as far as figuring it all out was concerned. With another groan, the Kantonian stood up from the grass and started walking. He had no clear destination in mind. He was just walking mindlessly around Professor Oak's ranch and watching the Pokémon he ran across without really seeing them.

At least until one noticed him, too, and didn't ignore him, but instead gave a joyous cry and came charging straight at him.

"Ba~y!" Ash looked up, torn from his thoughts at the familiar cry, and his gaze fell on a very familiar, dinosaur-like Pokémon with a leaf resembling a scythe protruding from its head and eight curled, leaf-like growths growing out of its skin by its neck in such a way that they formed a ring around it. Said familiar Pokémon was also happily charging straight at him in an also very familiar way. His eyes widened slightly.

"Bayleef, wait! Stop!" he called, but too late. The Leaf Pokémon's head collided with his stomach just then, winding him as he was thrown back a meter or two before landing on his back in the grass. He groaned slightly, though the sound was more of annoyance than pain, then pushed himself back into a sitting position and rubbed at the back of his head while giving the grass-type a semi-serious look. "I thought we had this entire 'don't tackle your trainer' thing straightened out," he commented in a teasing manner. Bayleef, however, didn't seem to really catch on that he wasn't serious if the way she lowered her head guiltily and the crestfallen expression on her face was anything to go by. Ash had the courtesy to wince slightly before giving her a reassuring smile and standing up. "Come on, I wasn't being serious. I'm not mad at you."

"Bay?" the Dino-like Pokémon looked up cautiously at those words, as if not entirely convinced. Ash couldn't really blame her. The last time she'd accidentally tackled him like this, he'd really blown a fuse because it hadn't been the first time. And because he'd been less capable of keeping his temper in check. And so to convince her, the young trainer held out his arms to his sides in an inviting manner.

"Come on, Bayleef. Come here," he told her and that was all the incentive the grass-type needed before joyfully approaching him again, though far more calmly this time. She pushed her head into his torso again and rubbed herself against him affectionately and he carefully wrapped his arms around it and stroked her neck.

"Bay! Bay!" the grass-type called joyously into his chest and Ash smiled.

"Yeah. I missed you, too, Bayleef."

It was the truth, too. As much as he believed in and enjoyed each fresh start in a new region, he always missed the Pokémon he left at Professor Oak's lab, just like he always missed those he released if that was what they wanted or needed (or both). But to be fair, his Pokémon were always happy at the ranch and he knew they were well taken care of. Besides which, taking into account everything his Pokémon always went through together with him on his journeys and during the League, they deserved the break.

Still, given just how much she was trying to mold her head into his chest, Bayleef clearly wanted (and deserved) that he finally spend some time with her again. Looking at her big, hopeful eyes, he couldn't possibly say no. So he spent the next few hours catching up with the Leaf Pokémon and even training with her a bit, out of sheer habit. He'd always felt closest to his Pokémon when battling or training, after all. Turned out that during the time she'd been at Professor Oak's ranch, the grass-type had continued to train (likely in case he ever called for her for a battle again) and the results of that were something Ash couldn't possibly miss. Especially not after being tackled by her earlier, even if she hadn't actually used the move Tackle.

One of the results of said training was that she'd almost learned to use Solar Beam. Almost, because while she could use it in theory, she still lacked severely in the aiming department. So Ash decided to try and help her out with that. It was when she pulled off the first Solar Beam that at least grazed her intended target that Professor Oak found them.

"Ah, I was wondering what the racket I could hear all the way back at the lab was. Training with Bayleef, eh, my boy?"

"Professor Oak!" Ash greeted, as he hadn't noticed the scientist approach until then. He smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. I ran into her by accident and realized it had really been too long since I last saw her. Or my other Pokémon. So when she asked me to spend time with her, how could I possibly say no?" he explained and the older man nodded sagely.

"True, true. You may be going off on new adventures in new regions and making new friends, but that never has to mean you never see your previous partners again," Professor Oak agreed with a sage smile. "So, how's that Solar Beam coming along? I've noticed Bayleef had been practicing that move for a while now."

"We're getting there. We still need to work on the aim, but we're definitely making progress. Right, Bayleef?"

"Bay!" the Leaf Pokémon called back enthusiastically and Ash smiled confidently before holding out a hand and pointing at a boulder that had been scorched a bit on one side.

"Ok, then let's try this again. Aim for that boulder and use Solar Beam!" Ash called and Bayleef responded by standing perfectly still for a few moments, gathering energy. Then the leaf on her head started to glow and she moved her head in a circular movement as if to throw something off of it – the energy in this case.

"LEEF!" the Dino-like Pokémon called as the Solar Beam fired towards the rock that was her target. It came even closer than last time, blasting at its side, but clearly missing the center by a large margin. Ash didn't really mind, though. Progress was progress and he made sure to praise Bayleef for her hard work. Watching from the side lines, Professor Oak nodded again.

"It seems to me like Bayleef might soon master the move. She's certainly improved in her control of the beam's energy today," he commented and Ash nodded enthusiastically, still petting the large Pokémon (and half-hugging her in the process, much to the grass-type's evident happiness) with a goofy smile on his face.

"Yeah. Control seemed to be her biggest problem, so we started by trying to lower the power of the move. The power behind it doesn't matter if it can't hit anything, after all," Ash agreed and stepped away from Bayleef again. And then it suddenly clicked in his mind and his eyes widened. Control. That was the key.

Since he'd never been trained in the use or manipulation of Aura, he might sometimes be able to use those abilities on a total fluke. But he had no real control over them. Pokémon, however, were used to having to control odd powers and while they also had to train to really manage it for certain moves, in other cases the control came almost naturally.

And the Bond Phenomenon had always been about the Pokémon and trainer working together. It worked because Ash and Greninja had an extremely close bond. When they activated it, Greninja transformed and took on some of Ash's traits – for instance his usually white cheeks and ears turning black and becoming more spiked, strongly resembling Ash's hair – while Ash subconsciously started to move exactly like Greninja, and exactly in tandem with him, minus the running, as if he were the one executing the moves he called. When the transformation activated, Greninja gained strength from his trainer, because the Kantonian somehow gave him that strength. They shared that strength. And in return, Ash could feel Greninja's pain whenever he took a hit, because they shared that, too.

The Bond Phenomenon had always worked both ways. It had always been about both him and Greninja giving and receiving something in equal measure. It was about sharing. Which was the reason Ash had always said they fought as one when they used it, because that was exactly what they did. They were two people, trainer and Pokémon, but when they used the Bond Phenomenon, they fought together as one being.

Why would it be any different with the abilities they discovered after being exposed to mega-evolution energy? It wouldn't make any sense if it was. But if one assumed the ability had always been Greninja's, then that begged the question what Greninja could possibly gain from sharing that ability with Ash through the Bond Phenomenon – what Ash gave in return to keep the give-and-receive balance. There was nothing the young trainer could think of, though. At least nothing he wasn't sure he hadn't shared with Greninja before those particular abilities manifested, anyway. And it was the same the other way around. If the ability came from Ash, what did Greninja give in return for it? At first, Ash hadn't been able to think of anything there, either.

He had a possible answer now, though: control.

"That's it!" Ash called loudly as it finally all made sense in his mind. But along with the realization came another one – namely the most likely reason he had been so anxious over the entire thing and had such a strong feeling that he had to figure it all out as soon as possible. And that reason was…

"What's what, Ash?" Professor Oak asked in a startled manner once he recovered from the surprise the young trainer's sudden yell caused. The question effectively broke up Ash's train of thought and reminded him that he wasn't currently alone, too. Which of course immediately made him cover the entire thing up as best he could.

"Oh, sorry, Professor, it's nothing, I just finally managed to find a solution to something I've been thinking about," he said awkwardly before quickly turning away, though not without giving Bayleef an apologetic look. "Sorry, Bayleef, but I have to go now. Keep working on that Solar Beam, ok? I'm sure you'll figure it out in no time. Professor, if you see Pikachu, tell him I went back home, ok? Bye!" And then he ran off. Bayleef looked a bit sad at his sudden departure, but managed to call an upbeat 'Bay! Bay!' after him (something he interpreted as a 'see you later, Ash!' or something along those lines). Professor Oak, on the other hand, was nothing short of lost.

"Wait Ash, what are you talking about?" the scientist called after the young trainer, but Ash was already too far to hear him. Or the sigh that followed. "I'll never understand what runs through that boy's head," he muttered under his breath.

Ash, for his part, was definitely glad the Professor didn't try to follow him. Or that he wasn't likely to really think much on the trainer's behavior and just chuck it up to 'typical Ash weirdness'. If he were completely honest, the Kantonian would even say he preferred things to be that way more often than not.

His mother thankfully wasn't home when he got there and neither was Mr. Mime, so he got no strange looks upon his sudden entrance and almost frantic way he went up to his room, nearly slamming the door shut behind him. He needed to be alone for a while to calm down. And to check whether or not what suddenly seemed so obvious and logical was actually what was going on. Because if it was, then it would certainly explain why the entire subject had been bugging him as much as it had.

The Bond Phenomenon was all about him and Greninja fighting as one. It was about them working together. They could do things when they activated that bond that were impossible to do otherwise because they did them together in the truest sense of the word, as even their minds seemed to be connected. They wouldn't have been able to communicate like they did even over large distances otherwise, not to mention there was no other plausible explanation for why exactly Ash could see through Greninja's eyes while they battled. Their ability to see Chespie within the Giant Rock shouldn't be an exception to that and neither should be their ability to sense the malevolent vines and see the negative energy that fueled them. It had worked because they worked together to make it work.

Because he was an Aura Adept, Ash provided the possibility – the power required for it to be possible to see and sense those things. But since he hadn't been trained, that was all he could give: the possibility. He had likely always done that subconsciously, but his exposure to the mega-evolution energy might have stimulated his Aura somehow, right? Well, in his mind it could. Energy could interact with and affect energy. It only made sense. So the mega-evolution energy somehow affected his Aura – maybe it made it stronger, maybe in some other way – which led to Greninja possibly noticing that power on a subconscious level the next time they activated the Bond Phenomenon. And from there, Greninja took the opportunity Ash provided and used it by giving the control Ash lacked. In other words, the untrained Aura Adept that Ash was gave the 'ability to manipulate Aura to see things through solid objects', for instance, and Greninja gave the control required to actually use that ability correctly.

It worked because they subconsciously worked together to make it work when they were joined as one both emotionally and mentally, which was the requirement for the Bond Phenomenon to activate in the first place. They needed to think and act as one. And they did.

But if that was the case… then that would mean that Zygarde had requested Greninja's help because of an ability he didn't actually have. At least not on his own. And that could put the Ninja Pokémon in danger. Along with possibly frustrating him if he hadn't figured out the same thing by now. Which he couldn't have, really, because Greninja had no way of knowing that Ash was an untrained Aura Adept.

That was what had been bugging Ash about all this. Because subconsciously, he'd already known all that. And now that he finally figured it out, he agreed with his previous feelings: he really should have been able to connect the dots earlier. It seemed so obvious now.

It even explained the dreams he couldn't remember. Now that he thought about it, the 'residual feelings' he had each morning after he woke up felt a lot like the way he experienced Greninja's thoughts and feelings when they activated the Bond Phenomenon. And it also made sense if one took into account the time difference between Kalos and Kanto. Late night in Kanto was early morning, maybe even afternoon in Kalos, so it would be perfectly normal for Greninja to already be up and about – and hunting the vines.

The determination to achieve something would have been Greninja's determination to find the vines. Maybe even destroy one he'd already found. The slight confusion could be explained by the fact that if the ability Zygarde had said was his actually worked only when Ash and Greninja worked together like the Kantonian was starting to believe, then Greninja wouldn't be able to use it all the time and would be understandably confused about it. But it was temporary because the ability might have eventually kicked in when Ash subconsciously pitched in to help while he was sleeping. The sense of accomplishment could match the destruction of a vine they found. And the marginal sadness… well, considering it always felt like the feeling Ash had become familiar with ever since he had released Butterfree, which had been the very first time that he released a Pokémon, the young trainer was inclined to believe Greninja simply missed him and the rest of the team, but knew better than to dwell on the feeling or to regret his decision. Yes, the sadness was there and always would be because they were friends and it was only natural to miss your friends, but that was it.

It all made sense. Even the possibility of Ash helping out Greninja while he slept without realizing it. After all, in the beginning, when they didn't know how to call forth the Bond Phenomenon, the transformation had been random and induced completely subconsciously on their part. The one time they tried to do it consciously without really understanding how it worked, they had utterly failed. And ever since they figured it out, they had always done it consciously. However, if Greninja was in a situation that was desperate enough (or frustrating enough), it would only make sense that he'd wish for that connection to activate, if only on a subconscious level. And if Ash was asleep and not consciously focused on a myriad other things and thoughts like he had been the past few days while he tried to figure all this out, then it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that he subconsciously felt and responded to Greninja's need. Maybe not enough to actually call forth the transformation, but enough to allow Greninja to see what he needed to see.

That posed another problem, however. Helping out while he was sleeping and thus unaware he was even doing it was all well and good… but what if Greninja needed his help while he was awake? The time difference between Kalos and Kanto wasn't that large, after all. Kalos' daytime didn't perfectly correlate with Kantos' nighttime. And there was no telling what time difference there would be between Kalos and whatever region Ash went to next when he finally thought about that and decided on one. So what would he do about that?

Well, first things first. He needed to check if what he figured out was actually how things worked. And the best way to do that was to try and activate the Bond Phenomenon, to see if he could do it in a controlled manner, like he thought he might have while asleep. Preferably without Greninja noticing. It wasn't that Ash thought the Ninja Pokémon would be offended or disappointed or anything like that upon finding out the ability he thought was his might actually be an ability that he needed his trainer to activate. The bipedal frog wasn't like that. Sure, he always wanted to be stronger, but he never seemed to mind needing Ash to achieve that additional level of strength. In fact, as far as the young trainer could tell, the water-and-dark type actually preferred it that way.

Which made sense. What was it that Olympia had said again? The thing Greninja (or Frogadier back then) desired the most had been Ash's love. It was to have actual friends that cared for him. And Ash, along with the rest of his Kalos Pokémon and Pikachu, had been more than willing to deliver.

However, much like the young trainer, Greninja was someone who put the needs of others before his own. So knowing him, if he found out about all this (assuming it was the truth, anyway), he'd probably feel guilty about it. He'd see it as Ash being forced to divide his time (and focus) between Greninja's duties and his own journey and dreams. Duties that the water-and-dark type had decided to take on of his own free will and never intended to let his trainer help him shoulder, which was understandable given that Ash had already said multiple times that he was going to go back to Kanto and then leave on another journey after that at that point. They had said their goodbyes and had gone their separate ways (though Ash still hoped he'd see Greninja again and had a feeling the bipedal frog shared those hopes, no matter how unlikely it seemed given that Ash was a traveler and thus might turn out to be hard to find whenever Kalos was safe) and neither of them wanted the other to worry about them in any way. Ash wanted for Greninja to focus on what he'd decided to do without regrets and Greninja wanted Ash to focus on his dreams and the journey that might allow him to achieve said dream. So if the bipedal frog found out about the possibility that he might need Ash's help like this, and that Ash was more than willing to try and provide it if it was really needed, then he'd feel guilty.

So it would probably be best to just help out secretly, if that was possible. At least that was what Ash decided.

This was why he had chosen to go into his room. He wouldn't be disturbed here and no one would see him 'acting strange' as he sometimes could when activating the Bond Phenomenon. The only person who might eventually sneak up on him, in a way, would be Pikachu, but Ash knew that if he just explained everything (which he would if he had to) then the Mouse Pokémon would understand. Though of course, the young trainer would rather keep the entire thing to himself if at all possible. That was just how he was.

With those thoughts in mind, Ash sat down on his bed and closed his eyes, concentrating as he tried to activate the Bond Phenomenon like he would if he and Greninja had consciously agreed to do it right then.

It didn't quite work out. Not in the way Ash was already used to, anyway. But there was a reaction. First was the pain that suddenly hit him, originating from his side. Well, ache was a better description, really, because it was rather faint. At first, there was nothing else, but eventually, as he focused a bit more, an image formed in his mind. It was extremely blurry and out of focus and the fact that what he was seeing seemed to move constantly didn't help, either. But he knew that it wasn't just his imagination. That was something Greninja was seeing. Question was, was it out of focus as much as it was because the bipedal frog couldn't see for some reason, or was it a problem of the Bond Phenomenon itself?

Based on only the slight ache he felt from his side, Ash felt inclined to believe the second one. So he had a choice of trying to push harder and risking Greninja noticing his attempts, or backing off.

But of course, Ash was never the type to back off. So he tried harder.

The pain in his side intensified a bit and for a moment, the image behind his closed eye-lids became sharper. But then it got blurry again, though this time in a way that implied that the Shinobi Frog had simply moved. Fast.

Well, it only made sense. The Bond Phenomenon worked both ways. If Greninja shared his pain with his trainer, if only a little bit, then Ash also had to share something with Greninja as well – in this case, likely strength, which allowed the water-and-dark type to move faster. And if Ash could see through Greninja's eyes, if only a little bit, then the bipedal frog also had to gain something from it.

Focus shifting to something else, Ash didn't notice both the pain and the blurry image in his mind disappearing. That was something he hadn't really thought about. What did he offer in return for being able to see through Greninja's eyes? He doubted it was for the Ninja Pokémon to see what he saw in return. It wouldn't help the blue frog in battle, which was when the Bond Phenomenon was mostly used, only distract him, after all.

Opening his eyes, Ash found himself thinking back to the first times he and Greninja actually activated the Bond Phenomenon, though not to its fullest, on mere instinct. The first time had been… in the ninja village, wasn't it? Right after Frogadier had evolved into Greninja. Ash hadn't really felt any backlash from the transformation then, but it had been short and Greninja hadn't taken a single hit during that short moment. But the power boost he'd gained had been undeniable.

The second time… Ash was quite sure the second time had been in the Terminus Cave, when they fought against Team Flare. That had been the first time he noticed he felt Greninja's pain when the water-and-dark type took a hit. It was also the first time he'd actually seen something through the bipedal frog's eyes. And it was the first time he'd kind of collapsed from exhaustion afterwards, though not to the point of passing out. That happened when they fought Alain and his Mega-Charizard. And again when they fought Diantha and her Mega-Gardevoir. Because keeping the Bond Phenomenon going had been exhausting. As if something, or someone, had been leeching his energy – his stamina. Which was why he'd decided to train himself along with his Pokémon again (although he trained himself harder than he did them at that point, at least for a while) and it had paid off. When he built up more strength and stamina of his own, the Bond Phenomenon had become less taxing, because he had a better stamina – a larger pool of energy to share from.

So it was safe to assume he gave two things to Greninja when they activated the Bond Phenomenon. Two kinds of energy. The 'explosive' energy required for explosive movement, like starting to sprint immediately from a standstill instead of starting out slow and progressively speeding up or like punching someone fast and hard without taking the time to pull back one's fist for extra momentum, and the 'energy for endurance' required to keep a certain activity up without tiring. Power and stamina. Both could be summarized as 'energy', true, but even Ash knew they were separate. There were people and Pokémon who could run for hours without getting tired, but they weren't necessarily fast, and if they were, they needed to build up that speed over time. There were people and Pokémon who could start sprinting in the blink of an eye but collapsed from exhaustion less than ten minutes of running later. And then there were people and Pokémon who could do both, breaking into a sprint so fast they seemed to disappear for a second even if you didn't blink and who could keep running at that sprinting pace for hours.

Pokémon trained for battle usually did, or at least should, fall into that third category. At least if their fighting style relied on speed and agility like Greninja's did. So he needed both. And because of that, Ash offered him both. And in return, Greninja shared two things of his own: his sight and his pain whenever he took a hit.

At first glance, that second one in particular might seem like a rather vicious backlash. After all, getting hurt had always been a part of Pokémon battles, but the trainer was never supposed to feel the pain that came with it. That was something only the Pokémon experienced because they were the ones fighting, though in Ash's experience, they didn't mind the risk in most cases. The Pokémon felt the pain of a wound and the trainers got to worry about and fuss over them later on. That was the deal. So at first glance, the fact that Ash could feel Greninja's pain while in combat seemed like a backlash more than anything. But Ash didn't think that way. He might have at first, especially since he wasn't used to it and hadn't expected it, but after a few battles, he'd actually come to appreciate it.

He'd come to appreciate it because it let him know whether or not Greninja was really still able to go on fighting, or just stubbornly refused to give up for one reason or another – mostly because he didn't seem to want to disappoint his trainer. Normally, Ash didn't need to worry about it. If his Pokémon really were completely tuckered out and couldn't go on, then they fell and were proclaimed unable to battle by the referee, but always woke up shortly afterward if left out of their pokéballs and were overall fine. Tired and definitely beat up, but overall fine.

Greninja, however, didn't seem willing to ever give in unless he absolutely had to. Particularly when the Bond Phenomenon was activated. At first, Ash had been ecstatic and elated, believing the Ninja Pokémon to just be that strong.

His loss against Wulfric had definitely been a rather rude wake-up call where that was concerned. He had felt the pain from Greninja's wounds in that fight, but the blue amphibian had insisted he was fine and could go on. So Ash had believed him. And Wulfric had likely believed Ash and Greninja knew what they were doing and kept going all out, too. Which had ended with Greninja slamming _head first against a concrete wall_ and Ash nearly fainting when the pain of _that_ reached him as well for a split second before the Bond Phenomenon simply cut off since Greninja had passed out. The Nurse Joy working in Snowbell City's Pokémon Center didn't seem to think Greninja's condition was anything abnormal considering Ash had challenged and lost to Wulfric, but she hadn't seen what happened. And she didn't know Greninja as well as Ash did. She didn't know that the bipedal frog had never been beaten up that badly before. It was even worse than when he'd taken the Electro Ball that Team Rocket's Wobbuffet had reflected back at Pikachu with Mirror Coat on the day they'd first met, when he was still a Froakie. And that was saying something because Pikachu was a strong Pokémon, Electro Ball was an electric move especially effective against a water type like Froakie, and Wobbuffet's Mirror Coat had _amplified_ said move to boot.

So of course Ash had felt guilty and responsible about it. Especially since it hadn't been the first time something similar had happened. When they'd first met Sanpei and Ash requested a battle between his Froakie and the ninja's Frogadier, they had lost the same way, because both Ash and Froakie had refused to back down when they should have. Ash because he failed to see through Froakie's tough act and believed his Pokémon to be less hurt than he was. And Froakie, going by Sanpei's assumption, because he had overestimated his own abilities. But thinking back on it, Froakie had never been the overconfident type. He was stubborn, reckless and relentless when determined to win a fight, but he wasn't and never had been overconfident. So there had to be another reason for his refusal to back down. Ash believed it might have simply been the fact that Froakie wanted to prove him right when he'd said that just because a Pokémon had evolved, it didn't mean it couldn't be beaten by its pre-evolved form – something Ash knew from experience, because Pikachu had defeated several Raichu already. One of them even in a gym battle.

It had been similar with Wulfric, though not quite the same. With Sanpei, Ash had wanted to prove to him that a Froakie could beat a Frogadier even though the latter was the former's evolved from. So he had been determined to win no matter what and Froakie had likely picked up on that and had been just as determined to prove Ash right and win. And, well, Ash wouldn't be surprised if Frogadier's confidence in winning just because it was Froakie's evolved form hadn't gotten on Froakie's nerves as much as Sanpei's apparent belief in the same had gotten on Ash's back then. When he had gone to challenge Wulfric, Ash had been determined to win his eighth Kalos badge. Even a bit desperate, too, because he had known he'd fallen behind his rivals – Sawyer in particular, and he had started with a tremendous setback time-wise in comparison to Ash. Plus, there had remained little time for him to get that badge before the Kalos League actually started. Far less than the time he usually had left between getting his eight badge and the start of a given League. So he had been impatient, desperate and determined – which had turned out to be a very self-destructive combination. Greninja had likely picked up on that again and had thus refused to back down no matter what during the ensuing gym battle. And despite using the then nearly-perfected Bond Phenomenon and _feeling_ Greninja's pain, Ash had failed to see the situation for what it had been. And the rest, as they say, was history. So in his own eyes, he had every reason to feel guilty about all of it.

Of course, in the end, the loss against the Snowbell City gym leader had turned out to be a good lesson for them and they certainly reaped a lot of benefits from it. They had perfected the Bond Phenomenon and they had become even closer as friends by 'starting from scratch'. But even during the heart-to-heart he'd had with Greninja in that cave during the snow storm (there was really no other way to call it, sappy as it may sound), Ash had kept the key part of the reason he'd felt guilty and his observation about Greninja sometimes trying to push himself too hard to himself. He was pretty sure the shinobi frog would have denied that last thing in particular, anyway.

But he paid more attention to what he could feel from that battle onward and if he thought Greninja was pushing himself too hard, he acted on that feeling. One such time had been in the Kalos League finals against Alain. After that last Water Shuriken and Blast Burn exchange, if it had just been about waiting to see who would fall down first, Ash might have allowed Greninja to be stubborn. But Mega-Charizard seemed… well, maybe not perfectly fine, but definitely in better shape than Ash knew Greninja to be. The bipedal frog, however, had stood tall and clearly refused to give up. He had wanted to go on fighting until he won. Because he had known that was what _Ash_ wished for.

The pain the young trainer had felt through their bond, though… it had been even worse than with Wulfric. How Greninja had even been able to stand so tall, as if he were as fine as Mega-Charizard seemed to be, was beyond the Kantonian. And he had decided that going on would be too much of a risk in the long run. Winning the League was never worth risking his Pokémon – his friends' – life or their health like this. Winning a battle of any kind wasn't worth it. He didn't want Greninja to push himself so hard, to risk so much just for a trophy. So Ash had indirectly forfeited. He'd cut the Bond Phenomenon off consciously, had forced Greninja's transformation to end. And the moment it had, the shinobi frog had collapsed as Ash had known he would, the young trainer following suit in an odd mix of exhaustion and relief from the pain he had no longer been feeling. He'd been proud of himself and Greninja then. It had been a great battle. Certainly one of the best and most gripping ones he'd ever had. And the water-and-dark type fighting by his side had been just plain awesome and did an amazing job. So he didn't mind losing in the end. Especially since it was more important to him that Greninja would be fine as usual, rather than in need of intensive medical attention just for a trophy.

"Ash! Are you home?" his mother's voice, coming from downstairs, brought him out of his musings – and made him realize at the same time that he'd completely lost his focus as far as trying to partially activate the Bond Phenomenon went. Wonderful. "Dinner will be ready soon!"

"Alright, I'll be right down, mom," he called back. But first, he was going to try and activate the Bond Phenomenon again, if only for a moment. His attempt this time had been more confident. More like he actually wanted to induce the transformation, as if he and Greninja had agreed to do it, though not quite that strong. And that paid off as an image formed in his mind again, this time clear and sharp. Along with that, though, came a sharp pain in his left side, right shoulder and across his back that made him wince, his right hand automatically moving to his side and his left gripping the opposite shoulder, as if that would help alleviate the pain that wasn't even his. From the way Greninja's field of vision of was moving, indicating the Ninja Pokémon himself was moving around, though, the blue frog didn't seem to mind the pain that much. Although to be fair, Ash wasn't surprised. He had felt worse pain thanks to the Bond Phenomenon before and had managed to stop reacting to it so no one would worry. Not Pikachu and not Greninja. Or any of his other friends for that matter. It was just that this time, it had surprised him.

With a deep exhale, Ash let go of the aching parts of his body and relaxed, though his focus remained on the image he saw. The situation he saw through Greninja's eyes. The shinobi frog seemed to be on a beach, though thankfully outside of any kind of town. But possibly close to one. There were at least four familiar, vicious plants all around him – the very roots Zygarde had requested Greninja's help with. The image suddenly zoomed in on one of them indicating Greninja's swift approach and then Ash saw the familiar light and trajectory of cut slicing through the thing. But only partway and it still remained standing. Then the water-and-dark type whose vision Ash was sharing had to retreat, because another vine had threatened to wrap itself around him so as to immobilize him.

The Kantonian couldn't actually feel the Ninja Pokémons frustration if it was there. But he could very well imagine it.

Greninja obviously needed to see the energy within the vines to get rid of them properly and efficiently. And it was quite evident that he wasn't seeing it now. So far, Ash's earlier hypothesis seemed to be correct. Now it was time to test whether or not it really was an ability they could only use together, with Ash's power and Greninja's control. And so the young trainer focused and tried to connect just a bit more with his Pokémon. Just enough to share that one, particular thing he wanted to share with him.

It took a while and a couple of times, it almost looked like Greninja might have transformed instead, but the fact that Ash still couldn't feel what the shinobi frog felt or hear his thought proved otherwise. Those two kinds of connection always accompanied the transformation since they perfected it, after all. But eventually, Ash felt something shift just slightly and a moment afterward, the roots he was seeing – the roots Greninja was seeing and trying to cut down – had glowing, red vein-like vessels in them. The bipedal frog had stopped for a moment and Ash suspected it was because he was surprised (and possibly relieved) that he could finally see his target. And then the water-and-dark type was moving again, first throwing two small Water Shuriken at one of the plants. The sharp projectiles cut straight through and severed the veins, the plant collapsing on itself and then disappearing in the ground almost instantly. Two other plants were felled with a well-placed Cut. But the last one wasn't destroyed by Greninja, but by a duo of green Pokémon resembling wolves or dogs, Ash wasn't really sure.

He knew they were Zygarde and Squishy, though.

He didn't know what went on next. Well, he suspected the Order Pokémon and Greninja were talking about something, especially since Greninja's field of vision moved a few times in a way that would indicate the frog nodding, but he couldn't actually hear any of it. And soon enough, his focus shifted away from his bond with Greninja and the connection was severed entirely.

Well, that settled that. He had been right. And it explained why he had been so anxious about the issue. Zygarde, and everyone else for that matter, had clearly misinterpreted the situation and asked Greninja for assistance that the water-and-dark type couldn't possibly give on his own, whether he realized it or not. Not that Ash could really blame the Order Pokémon for that. Pretty much everyone would have assumed a special ability to be a Pokémon's, rather than a human's, in that situation. Let alone thinking that it might actually be something Pokémon and trainer could only perform together. But that was how things were and now that Ash knew that for as certain as he'd probably ever be, he was determined to help his friend.

"Mom, is Pikachu with you?" the Kantonian asked as he came down the stairs, but his question was answered before Delia actually gave a verbal confirmation, because he saw the electric mouse sitting happily on the table… and eating ketchup. Straight out of the bottle. Of course. Ash should have known.

Dinner went by fairly normally, especially since Ash felt like he acted more like himself that evening than he had since he'd come back from Kalos. The smiling look his mother was giving him throughout their meal seemed to confirm that suspicion. It was only to be expected, though, considering Ash finally didn't have a puzzle on his mind he felt he should be able to solve much faster than he actually had. That didn't mean the problem was solved, of course, but he could allow himself to relax and not think about it for a little while, at least.

If only Pikachu wasn't giving him that flat look from time to time that told Ash the electric type just knew his trainer was hiding something, everything would be perfect. Then again, the yellow rodent had every right to be even more suspicious than he had been before given how suddenly Ash had hightailed it out of Professor Oak's ranch and back home without even trying to look for him so they could go together. Because it was definitely the first time that had happened. And Ash's seemingly normal behavior now probably looked only more suspicious to his partner because of it.

Which was probably why the moment dinner was done and Ash and Pikachu were alone together in the young trainer's room, the Mouse Pokémon rounded on the boy with a look that left absolutely no room for questioning what he wanted. He wanted Ash to talk. And he wasn't going to take no for an answer this time, Ash could tell. So he either needed to be completely honest (which he really didn't want to do, because he knew Pikachu would then worry for both him and Greninja and the Kantonian also knew neither he nor the shinobi frog would want that) or had to come up with a damn good way to avoid fully answering Pikachu's questions.

"Pika, pikapika pikachu," the yellow rodent started in a firm tone. If Ash had had any doubt that his partner was going to let this go easily this time, they'd be gone now. "Pi~pika chu-pi pi~pi kachu-pi."

"It's nothing, Pikachu. Really. I just had something on my mind the last few days, that's all. And I figured it out now, so it's fine. You really don't need to worry," Ash tried to placate his friend, ignoring Pikachu's demand that he tell the Mouse Pokémon what was wrong entirely. He sat down on his bed again and gave his best reassuring and innocent smile. "I mean it. There's really nothing going on," he added for good measure. He wasn't lying either, because nothing was really going on. He had just been on edge because something had been bothering him and he had already figured out what it was. Since the problem was figured out, it was also as good as solved in Ash's optimistic point of view – although he knew it wouldn't really be that easy this time. However, Pikachu did not look convinced at all. That was obvious by the familiar flat look he was giving his trainer before the look turned into a frown. The yellow rodent then jumped onto the bed beside Ash, but didn't climb into his lap or on his shoulder and instead remained sitting beside him and giving him that searching frown.

"Pi~ka?" he inquired in a low tone that just dared Ash to have the guts to lie. But in the young trainer's own point of view, he wasn't lying anyway. He just wasn't giving out any of the details Pikachu wanted.

"Yes, I'm sure, buddy. You worry too much," As pointed out with a small laugh and reached out to pet the electric type. Pikachu tried to avoid the affectionate gesture a bit, as if sensing the argument would be over the moment he gave in and allowed Ash's hand to rest on his head, but he gave in in the end. Still, even though he enjoyed the caress, the Mouse Pokémon wasn't going to back off quite that easily this time, even if Ash tried to use his (by now perfected) distraction tactics.

"Pika chu-pika pikachu pika pika pi pikachu-pi," he pointed out with another flat look before sighing dramatically. Ash only smiled sheepishly.

"Well, maybe you're right about that…" he said in response to his partner's comment, which could essentially be translated as something akin to 'you always worry about everyone else, so it's high time you let someone else worry about you for a change', and trailed off sheepishly. That gained him another flat look from the yellow rodent.

"Pika~?" he repeated in that same low tone as before. The young trained replied with a teasing grin.

"Yes, maybe," he affirmed as his hand continued to pet Pikachu's soft fur. The yellow rodent continued to stare at him for a while longer, but eventually melted into the soft caresses and it seemed like the conversation was over. However, as Pikachu laid down leaning against Ash's thigh comfortably, he asked one last question. And it was one that actually made Ash falter.

"Pi pi~ka pikapika chu-pika pi-pika pikachu pika-chu-pi pika. Pi?" he said, and the Kantonian trainer could _almost_ hear the exact words behind the meaning he knew Pikachu's words had: 'well, I suppose you'd tell me if it really was important. Right?' And while Ash wanted to wholeheartedly say 'yes' to that, he knew to admit that _that_ would be a lie, because in Pikachu's mind, anything that had directly to do with Ash or one of his other Pokémon (which were all Pikachu's friends, understandably) was important. And right now, the young trainer was keeping information of exactly that kind from his partner.

It really made him feel lower than low just then.

"Sure, if it was something you could help me with," he finally settled on saying. Which was a mistake, because it caused Pikachu's ears to perk up straight on his head in attention and his eyes to snap open as he stared at his trainer. The somewhat stupefied look quickly turned into an angry glare, though.

"Pikachu pi~ pika, pikachu pika!" The Mouse Pokémon said indignantly before jumping away from Ash and his caresses, cheeks sparking with electricity in clear irritation. Not that the young trainer was surprised. 'What the heck is that supposed to mean!' indeed. Pikachu had every right to be irritated, which Ash proved when he winced. And then foolishly tried to backpedal, as if that had ever worked before.

"Nothing," he said quickly, regretting the word the moment it was out of his mouth. Backpedaling like that had never worked before, it only got him into more trouble. It was the reason he'd learned other tactics to avoid uncomfortable subjects like that. Not that any of them had ever really worked on Pikachu. The electric type just knew him too well. And he clearly wasn't having any of it anymore as he closed his eyes and charged up his electricity for a Thunderbolt.

"Pi~kachu~," came the telling cry as the move discharged, causing Ash to grunt. It didn't last long and it wasn't a strong Thunderbolt, either, especially not considering what kind of power Pikachu could dish out. In fact, Ash considered that an equivalent of someone smacking him upside the head. He still fell backwards onto his back on the bed, though, his body tingling a bit while Pikachu jumped onto his chest and glared down at him, cheeks still sparking in irritation. Ash officially gave up.

"Alright, I deserved that," he admitted and Pikachu snorted in response.

"Pika~chu," he said, and Ash didn't think there had ever been anyone who let out such an exasperated 'no kidding' before. At least not at him. "Pi~ka, pikapika pika pi-pikachu pikapikachu," the electric mouse said next, not even asking but _demanding_ Ash tell him everything. The young trainer waved a hand at his partner in surrender.

"Fine, you win. But let me sit up, at least?" Not that he couldn't sit up with Pikachu standing on his chest, since it wasn't like the electric type was particularly heavy, but still. It was the principle of the thing. Nodding, the yellow rodent moved from Ash's chest to his lap and the young trainer sat up with a sigh. The way Pikachu's gaze bored into him, urging him to start talking, wasn't exactly making this easier.

"Do you remember the last time we met Zygarde, buddy?" Ash decided to start there, because it was basically where it had all started. It was the memory of this very meeting (and conversation) that had originally made him uneasy. Pikachu gave him a questioning look.

"Pi," he said slowly, nodding his head.

"And do you remember why Zygarde asked Greninja to stay in Kalos and help him and Squishy?"

"Pi," the electric mouse replied slowly again with another nod.

"Well… what if I told you Zygarde had been wrong in its assumption?" Ash asked directly and Pikachu blinked, his ears twitching a bit in confusion.

"Pi?" he questioned and the young trainer sighed before explaining to him what he'd been thinking about the past few days and the conclusion he'd come to. Everything. By the end, his partner looked very much convinced. And worried, just as Ash expected. And even a bit scared, probably for Greninja's sake.

"Pi~ka~?! Pikapika pikachu-pikapika-chupika pi pikachupi," he said frantically and would have likely continued in what seemed to be an agitated rant had Ash not interrupted him.

"See, this was exactly why I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to worry over it," he said, but Pikachu actually seemed insulted at the words.

"Pikapika! Chu-pi~ pi~kapi-ka~! Pi-ka-chu!" was the electric mouse's indignant reply, which Ash knew contained at least one… well, not insult. Accusation was a more fitting description, even if it was unintentional. And he wasn't going to stand for it. No one had the right to accuse him of not caring for his Pokémon, even unintentionally. Pikachu least of all, since he should know better than anyone just how much Ash cared.

"Greninja is fine! And he will always be fine because you can be sure I'll make sure of that no matter what you seem to think," the young trainer snapped, losing his temper for the first time in a longer while – and for the first time since they'd first met at Pikachu himself, really. The yellow rodent flinched and his ears lowered, likely because he realized what his words might have sounded like.

"Pikachu~," he said quietly, dejectedly, and Ash sighed.

"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, buddy," he said, patting Pikachu's head gently until the electric type looked up at him again. "But I mean it. Greninja is fine," he repeated for good measure, because it was true. Sure, Ash had felt the pain from a few wounds before dinner, but he was certain it was nothing Greninja couldn't handle. Nor was it anything that a little rest wouldn't cure. Besides, it wasn't like the shinobi frog was alone. Zygarde and Squishy were both with him and they had said that Greninja would be 'in their care' – which was equivalent to them promising they would make sure the water-and-dark type would stay healthy and as safe as could be expected given the circumstances in Ash's mind. "And now that I finally figured out what had been bothering me about what Zygarde said and that I know there might be at least some truth to it, I can help make sure he stays safe. So it'll be fine. You don't have to worry, Pikachu."

"Pikapi-ka?" the yellow rodent asked tilting his head to the side questioningly. "Pi~?" he added and Ash had to smile. How he'd help? Well, that should be obvious.

"Well, if that ability really is something Greninja and I can only pull off together like it seems to be, then I'll just have to make sure we're always connected enough that he can access that ability whenever he needs, right? How else did you think I'd try to help him?" the young trainer replied as if it was obvious. Which it kind of was. But he also made it sound easy and they both knew it likely wouldn't be.

"Pi~kachu? Pikachu-pi~ka?" Pikachu's voice was an odd mix of worried and doubtful, but his question was justified, as much as Ash hated to admit it.

"Of course I can do it," he assured, even though he really couldn't be too sure of that. He'd only tried once, after all, and only for a short moment. He frowned then, his expression turning serious. The kind of serious Pikachu only saw his trainer look when the situation really demanded it, like when a Legendary Pokémon was going rampant and needed to be stopped (preferably without harming it). Or when a Pokémon, Legendary, Mythical or even a common one, was in serious danger. Or when some evil organization tried to reshape or downright destroy the world for one reason or another (mostly because they thought they could). "I'll have to do it."

And that was really all that mattered. It wasn't a question of whether or not he _could_ do it, but whether or not he _would_ do it. It wasn't about can or can't, but about will or won't. And there was no way he was going to risk one of his friends getting hurt if he could prevent it. It wasn't that he didn't believe in Greninja and his strength. He knew the shinobi frog was strong better than anyone, after all. But he was also Ash's closest partner next to Pikachu and the only Pokémon he had released so he could accomplish such a potentially dangerous task as protecting an entire region from homicidal plants fueled by evil energy - plants that could sprout basically anywhere. So it was understandable Ash would be worried for him considering what image the puzzle he'd solved revealed.

That didn't change the fact that the young trainer couldn't just hole himself up in his room so he could focus on nothing but helping out Greninja and expect everyone to think that was normal. He didn't want to, either, and he also knew Greninja would never want that. Ash liked to travel and he wanted to keep traveling. He was certain Greninja would want him to keep traveling, or keep doing whatever else he liked to do, too. And therein lay the new problem he faced, because on one hand, there was no way he wasn't helping Greninja if he could. But on the other hand, he couldn't put his own life on hold because of that. Well, he could and he might have considered it if it wouldn't worry anyone, but he knew that his mother and Professor Oak, at the very least, would find it extremely worrying and strange unless he explained the situation to them. And explaining this particular problem would imply explaining tons of other stuff Ash really didn't feel like explaining to anyone. Especially his mother, because the list of things to explain along with his current dilemma would contain the Kalos Crisis and his mother wasn't going to find out any details about that or his involvement in it if he had anything to say about it. Or at least she was never going to find any of that out from him. So explaining wasn't an option and, by extension, neither was holing himself up at home like it currently seemed helping Greninja might imply.

So yeah, that might be a problem. But definitely not one that would deter him from trying.

XxX

Of course, saying he'd keep the connection between himself and Greninja going at all times and actually doing it were two entirely different things. Saying it was easy. Doing it definitely wasn't. When they had been together and fighting in the same battle – fighting together – activating the Bond Phenomenon had been almost instinctual. But they weren't together now. They weren't fighting together in the same battle, either. Nor did the shinobi frog fight all the time in the first place, as should be expected.

Of course, unlike mega-evolution, the Bond Phenomenon could stay activated even outside of battle. Ash knew that, because he and Greninja had already done that without consciously realizing it. After all, the shinobi frog hadn't been in battle per se when he tracked down Lysandre's right hand man, who had been trying to gather Zygarde's cells again. Even less so when they actually met the Order Pokémon again and Greninja had been asked to go with them. And yet the Greninja had been in his Ash-Greninhja form the entire time.

Still, despite the fact that it might make things slightly easier than they would have been otherwise, it didn't really seem to affect the difficulty of the task Ash had set for himself. At least not in a manner that the young trainer could notice. Although then again, it wasn't like he really had a point of comparison.

Either way, it was difficult. Maybe it was because they were so far apart or maybe it was because only one of them was consciously trying to activate a little part of the connection. Whatever the case, getting it to the point that allowed Ash to see through Greninja's eyes and test whether or not he could see the energy in a vine (assuming the bipedal frog even had a vine in his field of vision at the time Ash attempted it) took a lot of concentration and it took painfully little for it all to fall apart. Which wasn't acceptable. So Ash's first order of business was to learn to activate the Bond Phenomenon the required part-way and then keep it connected for at least a short moment while doing something else.

Understandably, it hadn't worked out all that well at first and the connection tended to break the moment Ash's focus shifted the tiniest bit. But the Kantonian wasn't anything if not stubborn, so he didn't let that stop him and just continued to try again and again. His hard work was rewarded eventually when he realized the connection stayed put even when his mind strayed, if only for half-a-minute or so. But it was a start. It was progress.

From there, it was all about continuing to try and extend the time the connection stayed in place until he could keep it up from morning 'till evening. That was a slow process, though, and while he had been able to somehow explain away the first week he had contentedly stayed in Pallet Town without mentioning even _thinking_ of going off on another Pokémon journey, the young trainer had a feeling his luck wouldn't last. Sure, his mother might not _mind_ him staying home, but it was obvious both she and Professor Oak were starting to catch on that something wasn't quite right.

Since he was in on it, Pikachu tried to help his trainer keep things quiet, of course. Both because he understood and agreed with Ash's reasons. There was only so much the electric mouse could do to distract Delia or the Professor from the glaring fact that Ash suddenly didn't seem to want to leave anymore without any explanation for the sudden change in behavior. Especially since he'd clearly loved Kalos and his journey there, so it seemed only natural that he'd want to go on yet another one soon. And really, a part of Ash did want that. It was just that considering the particular circumstances, he wasn't quite ready for another journey. He had to take care of keeping the Bond Phenomenon going without having to consciously think about it all the time first.

Thankfully, just as he was starting to think he was going to be found out because he didn't have any believable excuses or ways to avoid the questions left, Ash caught a lucky break in the form of a lottery win. To be precise, when Delia and Mr. Mime had went grocery shopping at the market one day, they had encountered a lottery stand offering a chance to win a short vacation in the tropical region of Alola, and more specifically Melemele Island – from the flight tickets there and back for three people to a room in one of the fanciest hotels the isle had to offer. Mr. Mime had tried his luck. And the psychic-and-fairy type had actually won.

To be perfectly honest, Ash wouldn't have been surprised if it hadn't been luck at all and that Mr. Mime had actually used psychic to help him win somehow. Not that anyone could prove whether or not he had.

When Ash heard about the vacation, he didn't fake his excitement at all. At first it was because he'd get to see another region, and the new Pokémon that could only be found there, if only for a short while. But then, as he was preparing for the trip, he realized just how much of a blessing it was. Because his mother would be enjoying the vacation as well and thus likely be paying less attention to Ash's odd behavior. Besides, he could just go off 'exploring' (whether for real or not) and continue trying to improve his ability to keep the Bond Phenomenon active without anyone noticing that he was potentially acting weird – because no one would know him.

Additionally, however, it had also proved him right about needing to learn to keep the Bond Phenomenon partly active at all times. Because while he knew the time difference between Kalos and Kanto, he had no idea what the time shift between Kalos and Alola might be. He didn't really bother checking in the end, though, because he figured it didn't matter. He was going to try and keep the Bond active the entire time either way, and that was all there was to it.

When he went to Professor Oak with his mother to inform him of the trip, Ash had decided to use the opportunity to leave the pokéballs of his five Kalos Pokémon in the professor's care. (Yes, five… it felt somehow reassuring to remind himself that he still had both Goodra's and Greninja's pokéball, just as it always did when he released a Pokémon, but kept their pokéballs.) The four Pokémon were already spending a fair amount of time at the ranch and getting to know the other Pokémon anyway, so it was just a formality at this point, since they had more or less been given into the scientist's care long before then. It was also the perfect way to ensure they wouldn't find out about anything and thus wouldn't worry about Ash or Greninja needlessly, especially since it wasn't like they could do anything to help no matter how much they would have definitely wanted to, had Ash actually let them know. And the icing on the cake: it was what was expected Ash would do. After all, he was going to a brand new region, if only on vacation. It would only make sense Pikachu would be the only one he'd take along for the ride to 'start from scratch' like he always did. Not that he really planned to capture any Pokémon this time around. Although then again, who knew what would happen in that week, right?

Still, Ash had had no idea just how much of a blessing this trip would turn out to be.

Melemele Island turned out to be pretty much everything you'd expect from a tropical island. Wonderful weather, beautiful beaches and even an exciting Pokémon culture unlike anything Ash had seen before. Sure, even in other regions, people didn't keep their Pokémon in their pokéballs all the time. Particularly not in larger cities. (Kalos' Lumiose City came to mind as a prime example.) However, despite that, it still wasn't uncommon to see someone use a pokéball to return or let out a Pokémon and if you assumed everyone had the pokéballs of the Pokémon accompanying them on their person at all times, you would be right. On Melemele, however, as far as Ash could tell, pokéballs were nothing more than a trivial formality meant to ensure someone else (particularly a curious tourist) wouldn't accidentally catch a Pokémon that already belonged to someone else.

And even then, as the young trainer would find out later, that wasn't always the case and sometimes, you saw people with Pokémon that seemed to be theirs, but were in actuality technically wild.

To say Ash was interested by it all would have been a gross understatement. He was downright bubbling with excitement and that even before the plane actually touched down in Alola.

Needless to say, the behavior had certainly seemed to put any left-over suspicions his mother might have had to rest.

To the Kantonian's credit, he had managed to stick to his original plan of just 'going off to explore while continuing to work on keeping the Bond Phenomenon active' for about half a day. But when the afternoon rolled around, his excitement and curiosity won out and he just let himself go. He just had to try out that 'Alolan jet ski'. And Pikachu seemed to agree with him on that.

Of course, as soon as he got off of Sharpeedo and said goodbye to the lady renting out the gear, he felt slightly guilty and promptly focused on reconnecting the partial connection with Greninja again and this time decided to actively keep an eye on it. It didn't work out, though, as there were a million other things cratering for his attention that he wanted to see. Like that (probably wild) Pokémon he and Pikachu had kind of seen when they got off the Pokémon taxi at the market so his mother and Mr. Mime could purchase some fresh berries. In their typical fashion, the Kantonian and his partner ended up chasing the creature, much like Ash would have if he had actually intended to catch it, but it got away in the end.

That time, though, when Ash came to a stop and realized that he didn't even know where he'd ended up at because he hadn't been paying much attention to where he was going, let alone focusing on the Bond Phenomenon, the connection remained there for a minute or so longer before finally breaking around the time he and Pikachu were forced to flee from a deceptively cute, pink, bear-like Pokémon. That had been chasing them for an unknown reason with the seeming intent to beat them to death with its powerful arms, so he and Pikachu understandably ran away.

Which was how they ended up at the Pokémon School, where he kept forgetting he and his mother needed to go to deliver a Pokémon egg from Professor Oak to the school's principal. Though in his defense, he hadn't been really paying attention during that entire conversation, because he'd been focusing on and off on the Bond Phenomenon. He did recall the errand the moment he was told where he was, though, not that it helped much because he didn't have the egg on him. His mother did. And since he'd accidentally run off on her in his distraction, he had no idea where she was, either.

The kids his age attending the school were nice, though… if a bit panicked about the fact he'd been run over by a Tauros. Then again, it wasn't like any of them knew he was used to it because he had thirty Tauros of his own at Professor Oak's ranch that tended to _greet_ him this way. No, not tended to. They always did that. It was like a sort of ritual at this point. Or it would have been if Ash didn't consider it perfectly normal. Never mind the fact that he rarely (if ever) saw other trainers being 'affectionately attacked' by their Pokémon. That kind of behavior was normal for _his_ Pokémon, and so it was normal in his book in general.

One of the girls offered to show him around campus, and since he had no reason to decline and was interested to see the place anyway, he accepted. The girl, Mallow, actually took him by hand then, and though he told her that she didn't need to pull him, Ash actually quickly decided it was actually a good thing she did that – it gave him the moment he needed to briefly focus on the Bond Phenomenon again to re-activate it once he noticed the connection had broken off again.

The tour around the school was actually mostly uneventful, despite how Ash's enthusiasm might have suggested otherwise. At least until he felt something odd. Not in the sense that something seemed off about his surroundings, but like something within him wasn't quite right. It took him a moment to realize it was the Bond Phenomenon, though. It was… kind of being tugged at, it felt like. As if the person – Pokémon – on the other end was subconsciously (or maybe consciously) reaching for it, too. As if Greninja was asking for some help. Some strength.

The moment Ash realized as much, he tuned out Mallow's explanations about the school. He didn't go as far as closing his eyes, so he could still follow her on auto-pilot, but his focus turned inward, to the Bond Phenomenon and to the image he could see in his mind. The image of what Greninja could see at that very moment.

As Ash had already expected because of the odd feeling he got, the shinobi frog was dealing with another demonic plant. This one was bigger than the ones they'd destroyed together. It was closer in size to the vines that had attempted to level Lumiose City. And while Ash (and thus Greninja) could clearly see the red veins of energy within it, the water-and-dark type's attacks weren't quite powerful enough to get through the protective layers of the thing to reach and sever said veins. It was no wonder the Ninja Pokémon would try use more power in that case, whether he noticed where he was trying to reach for it or not. But it didn't matter to Ash if Greninja was consciously trying to ask him for assistance so he'd have more power. He'd try to help out anyway. And so he did.

It didn't feel quite like it did when the Bond Phenomenon was activated to its full capacity, but it didn't feel like it had before they really mastered it, either. And from what Ash could tell, the connection wasn't strong enough for Greninja to actually transform. But there _was_ a difference. That was difficult to miss when he suddenly felt far more like he was in some forest in a cooler part of Kalos rather than inside a building on a tropical island in Alola.

If Ash had noticed the difference, it was likely Greninja had as well, but in that particular moment, the Kantonian paid it no mind. His friend had requested his help, whether consciously or unconscious wasn't the issue, and so Ash had delivered.

It wasn't as if the young trainer could really tell whether or not the water-and-dark type really noticed it, though, because he couldn't feel Greninja's feelings or sense his thoughts. Just like the transformation, that particular part of their connection seemed to require the Bond Phenomenon to activate fully, at hundred percent. So he could only assume and hope that even if Greninja noticed this time, that he wouldn't necessarily notice (or at least mind… or feel guilty about it) that Ash was trying to keep up part of the connection without pause. Except when he was asleep, but he couldn't very well be expected to do anything then, and if the dreams he'd probably had back in Kanto were anything to go by, it wouldn't matter anyway because if Greninja needed it, then Ash would provide the required connection subconsciously while he slept. Probably. Hopefully.

With the connection strengthened just a bit more, it didn't take long for the Ninja Pokémon to finally fell the dangerous root and when he did, Greninja himself seemed to try and withdraw from the connection. Ash didn't fight him, though he did keep his focus on the feeling long enough to see if the Bond Phenomenon would be deactivated entirely, or just to the point it had been at before Greninja asked for assistance.

Thankfully, it was the latter and once Ash was certain of that, he allowed his focus to return more to what was actually going on around him. Just in time to see a few Pokémon skeletons (or maybe they were just replicas, he couldn't be sure because he hadn't been listening if Mallow actually told him anything about them) that were at least twice or even thrice his size.

"Check it out!" he called to no one in particular as he jogged closer to get a better look. "What's that? So cool! Awesome!" If Mallow was going to answer his question, he didn't really give her the chance to as his attention was quickly drawn to the window instead. (When had they walked up any stairs, anyway?) He couldn't help it, he was just that excited. There was so much to see here! In all honesty, he felt a lot like he did when he first left Kanto on his very first journey. Likely because he was about as relaxed as he had been back then – although there were different reasons for it. On his first journey, he had just had severe overconfidence problems and was so desperate to be better than Gary that he'd managed to convince himself that he was better than he actually was and thus had nothing to worry about – not with the gyms and not with the Indigo League. Needless to say, he was definitely brought down to Earth later concerning that. Now wasn't anything like that, though. He wasn't even on a journey now. He was on vacation so he had both a good reason and a good excuse to relax and just enjoy everything there was to see. And there was indeed a lot to see.

The window gave him a view of a pair of boys playing basketball against each other with their Pokémon as their partners. It was a kind of training (or just bonding and spending time together having fun) Ash would have definitely enjoyed, but one he definitely hadn't seen anywhere else. Without much thought, he got closer to the window and leaned out of it to get a better look, eyes sparkling excitedly. On his head, Pikachu wore a similar expression, behaving similarly childishly to his trainer – likely for similar reasons, since this _was_ a vacation for them. A vacation that had come at the perfect time considering Ash's secret about Greninja just might have been found out within a day or two otherwise. Because the oddities in his behavior had really been impossible to hide or explain away for longer than a couple of days, even with the electric mouse's help.

"This is great! Where am I again?" he asked without thinking, not realizing just how… well… stupid such a question might sound. He honestly wasn't sure where he was, though. That short moment of a stronger connection with Greninja when he felt as though he was back in Kalos had slightly disoriented him as to where he actually _was_ beyond being aware that it was still the Alola region. Sitting on his head, Pikachu might have seemed as though he thought nothing of the question to anyone watching – or at least anyone who didn't know him well. But Ash felt the way the yellow Pokémon's tiny paws tightened slightly on his hat and how Pikachu's tail twitched against his neck in slight signs of worry and question. The young trainer didn't get to give him any kind of subtle sign back, though, because this time, Mallow had more than enough time to answer the question, her expression somewhere between amused and exasperated.

"I told you, it's the Pokémon School. It's a place where Pokémon and students all study together," she said and Ash gave her a somewhat questioning glance briefly before smiling. Right. The Pokémon School. Now he remembered.

He really needed to work on not forgetting where he was and what he was doing when focusing on the Bond Phenomenon, though. There was a limit to how scatterbrained he could pretend to be without people thinking he was downright crazy, after all.

Mallow took him to the principal's office next, as she thought he was a new student. It turned out that his mother was already there with the egg, though, so it wasn't like the misunderstanding caused any real trouble to anyone. And once it was all cleared up, the Alolan still offered to show him around the campus, with principal Oak's permission.

He focused on where they were going and what Mallow was telling him more this time around, though he made a point to focus on the Bond Phenomenon every now and then as well to reconnect it if needed. As he listened to the girl showing him around, though, Ash couldn't help but feel like she was advertising her school. As if she was trying to convince him to enroll for some reason.

Although then again, even the teacher, professor Kukui, gave him that impression, so maybe it was just him. It wasn't like he wasn't interested in the place anyway. Except the fact that he wasn't the studious type, that is. But then again, from what he'd seen, this Pokémon School was vastly different from the ones he'd seen in other regions like Unova. That had been a school as he would have imagined it. Not here, though, and not only because the students were old enough to be certified trainers back home. There was also the abundance of Pokémon roaming freely outside of their pokéballs, allowing a maximum of Pokémon-human contact, unlike how things seemed to work in other Pokémon School's he'd seen.

If he weren't here merely on a short vacation, he might have even thought to enroll in a school like this for a little while to experience it firsthand. He had a feeling he'd enjoy it. It would be a change from traveling around all the time, but not necessarily a bad one.

Then he heard a Charizard's roar. It wasn't an angry one or anything like that, but it sounded annoyed enough that Ash quickly turned around to see what was wrong. It might not be his Charizard getting annoyed, but from the Kantonian's experience, any Charizard being even mildly irritated was usually a sign that someone had overstepped a boundary with it that shouldn't have been overstepped. A quick look told him the Charizard in question had to be the one at the entrance of campus – the only fire-and-flying type of this species around. Its trainer was by its side, but he hadn't been the one to annoy the Pokémon. That seemed to have been done by the three people standing opposite Charizard and its trainer.

Team Skull, Mallow called them. The name alone made Ash frown, his posture tensing just a little bit. Considering that any kind of group or gang with 'Team' as part of their name that he'd met had been hell bent on reshaping or destroying the world and stealing or hurting Pokémon as a side-hobby more often than not, he thought that reaction to be justified. And while the three teens (two guys and a girl) going by the group name 'Team Skull' didn't look anywhere near as menacing as the criminal gangs Ash had had the displeasure of meeting (repeatedly, in Team Rocket's case), that didn't mean he shouldn't be cautious of them. Looks could be deceiving. He'd learned that lesson already.

"But if we beat you, then that Charizard if yours belongs to us," one of the guys said. Ash hadn't really been following their exchange with the Flame Pokémon's trainer, but that that sentence clearly pierced through his slightly distracted mind and brought his focus fully to the here and now. He frowned, fists clenching at his sides. These three might not seem like all that much, and they were certainly fairer than other Pokémon-nappers Ash had met. At least they offered a battle first. It didn't make it any less despicable, but it was more than what most robbers would have done.

Even if they wanted said fight to be nine-on-one. And that was where Ash drew the line and got involved. As usual.

Of course, neither Charizard nor his trainer looked like they actually needed the help. They looked more annoyed than worried, Charizard especially. But Ash hadn't gotten involved because he thought the other trainer might actually require the assistance. To him, it was just the principle of the matter.

Which was pretty much why Charizard's trainer's, Kiawe's, calm and cold statement that he 'didn't need any help' didn't faze Ash at all. The Kantonian was already focusing on the battle at hand, his expression serious. He almost chuckled when he heard Mallow yell that Team Skull was really dangerous, though. Somehow, Ash had the feeling that his definition of 'dangerous' was miles away from Mallow's. He didn't intend to lower his guard, though. As already stated, looks could be deceiving.

Still, facing down the three people before him like he had many a trainer before, Ash couldn't help but notice a few things about them. Like the fact that they were overly boastful and vocal about their warnings to him. It reminded him a lot of how he'd been acting on his very first journey, really. Minus the threats, obviously. And while he knew that not every strong and experienced trainer held himself with the quiet and calm confidence he'd seen in most of them, and particularly champions, he also knew that people who were overly vocal about their strength often advertised far more than they could deliver.

He had called them cowards. Now, as he looked them in the eye, he had more of a feeling they'd called out three Pokémon each because they knew they couldn't win otherwise. Or at least that they believed as much, no matter what they were saying. Honestly, he wasn't sure which was actually worse, the possibility that these three were starting a fight they knew they couldn't win fairly, or that they started a fight they _believed_ their Pokémon couldn't win fair and square. Both would be showcases of monumental stupidity, of course, but while the first was stupidity alone, the second was insulting to their Pokémon – and likely did nothing for the creatures' self-confidence, either. After all, how should Pokémon believe they were strong and could win if their trainers didn't think so?

But whatever the case, they had wanted a battle. So a battle he'd give them. His first one since leaving Kalos. Pikachu was definitely ready to go and frankly, so was Ash.

"Don't hurt yourself," Kiawe commented, but the Kantonian didn't even look at him, smiling in both confidence and anticipation at the opponents before them. At the battle at hand. If he had paid a bit more attention to what the Alolan trainer had said, and more importantly _how_ he'd said it, Ash might have been insulted. But as things were, the comment just went in one ear and out the other without ever really being processed by his brain.

To his credit, Ash had plenty of other things to think about, having suddenly realized that this would also be the first battle he tried to fight with a Pokémon other than Greninja while the Bond Phenomenon was still partially connected. Which could turn out to be difficult. It was yet another thing he needed to learn, though. And actually battling was the best way to test just how much better he'd gotten at keeping the Bond Phenomenon going.

And then Tortunator came out and Ash's focus immediately shifted. He couldn't help it. He'd never seen a Tortunator before.

The battle began the next moment, too, and although it was nine against two, Ash didn't feel all that pressured. Compared to Pikachu's speed, especially when using Quick Attack, the three Salandit (if Ash caught the name right) seemed to almost stand still, after all. And while Kiawe didn't give Tortunator any kind of command, the fire-and-dragon type didn't need to be told to know what to do. Of course, considering its size, Ash had just expected it to tank the blows and shrug them off, not for the Blast Turtle Pokémon to turn its back on its enemies so the attacks would hit the shell instead (although it was actually what he _should have_ expected, he realized after a second). Let alone that said shell would explode.

So the spikes there blew up on contact, huh? Interesting. He'd have to keep that in mind in case he ever battled against a Tortunator.

His distraction made him react a bit later than usual when Salandid fired a Flame Burst at Pikachu, but he still had enough time to tell Pikachu what to do and for the Mouse Pokémon to have more than enough time to do it. A jump and a Thunderbolt later, the three poison-and-fire types were paralyzed on the ground, though not entirely knocked out. Pikachu must have held back. Maybe he considered this nothing but a warm-up or something. Or maybe they were stronger or more resilient (or both) than the Kantonian had thought, Ash wasn't sure.

He wasn't sure if his own joyful reaction was due to the fact that the attack hit or that the battle wasn't yet over, either. Although it turned out he might have as well rushed it, because Kiawe told him to stand back a moment later, stating he'd 'finish' it.

Thus allowing Ash to see his first ever Z-move. Although he'd thought he was about to see a mega-evolution at first.

It was odd to say the least. On one hand, he had no idea what it was. He'd never seen such a move be used before, after all. But on the other hand, it was almost painfully familiar, because the way Kiawe and Tortunator moved in perfect synch was just how Ash and Greninja moved when they activated the Bond Phenomenon to its fullest.

The thought made Ash suddenly realize that he hadn't even noticed when his connection to Greninja had snapped yet again, so he focused on restoring it while watching Kiawe. Those few seconds of perfect stillness and distraction on his part would have likely been his end in any other tag-battle (because this kind of was a tag-battle… in theory, at least) but the Alolan trainer's Z-move gave Ash more than enough time to reconnect with Greninja and then be ready to continue battling. Not that he needed to, because Inferno Overdrive had cleanly taken out all nine opposing Pokémon and Team Skull were quick to drive off on their bikes.

Ash was honestly impressed. And quite curious, too, just as he had been in Kalos when he first heard of mega-evolution. He wondered if Z-moves were something only really known in Alola, just like mega-evolution seemed to be mostly unknown outside of Kalos.

Professor Kukui seemed to have read his mind, because he explained a moment later. And if Ash hadn't been interested before, he definitely was now. So, Alola had no Pokémon League, but Island Challenges instead? That certainly sounded intriguing.

As was the fact that he'd seen Tapu Koko, the Guardian Pokémon of Melemele Island right after that. And after receiving another berry on the head, much like he had back in the forest. Almost as if someone (maybe even the Pokémon itself) wanted to get his attention.

It all got him thinking. He might have only spent one full day here in Alola, but it was certainly an interesting place to be. And he'd always wanted and loved to visit new regions. For longer than just a week or so. Not to mention his mother would definitely find it weird if he insisted on staying home much longer once they flew back to Kanto.

He definitely wasn't ready for another journey yet, though. He had to focus too much on the Bond Phenomenon in order to keep it going to even think of journeying. Let alone competing in gym battles and the Pokémon League.

But Alola didn't have a Pokémon League. Besides, it consisted of only four main islands, so it wasn't like there were that many places to travel to. The culture here was entirely different, too. The students at the Pokémon School were around his age, Ash was sure. Back home, they would have long since left on their journeys, assuming that's what they'd want, after all, not be enrolled in a school. A school that was very different from what its name had made Ash expect originally. A school he even felt he might enjoy attending, if only for a little while.

The more he thought about it, the better the idea sounded. He would get to explore a brand new region and ensure his mother never had any suspicions that he was hiding yet another secret from her at the same time. Since there was no league he might want to compete in, he could go at it at his own pace without being pressured by admission deadlines, and could thus easily work on keeping the Bond Phenomenon active at all times without having to consciously focus on it. There were the Island Challenges, which definitely sounded like something he might want to try, but from what professor Kukui had said, it didn't sound like there were only fixed, specific dates for those, so he could attempt one whenever he felt ready – whenever his ability to keep the Bond Phenomenon active at all times was good enough that he could keep it going and battle at the same time.

And since he wouldn't be traveling much, he only needed to find a place to stay at for the duration of his stay and he wouldn't have to worry about sleeping arrangements or food.

He could learn more about the Z-moves, too. Maybe even learn to perform one with Pikachu.

And he might get another chance to see Tapu Koko again. To get a better look at it than he had today, because he'd seen the island guardian only briefly – although in typical Ash fashion, he didn't seem to realize just how unusual it was that he, a random tourist from Kanto, got to see one of four Legendary Pokémon that were considered to be local deities.

"What do you think, Pikachu? Do you want to take a break from traveling and just explore a new region at our own pace this time?" he asked his trusted partner and Pikachu gave him a brief, startled look before smiling and nodding enthusiastically.

"Pi~kachu!"

It was decided then. They'd stay in Alola. They'd explore every nook and cranny of every one of the four main islands. If possible, they might even enroll in the Pokémon School – to try it out, see firsthand what it was like. They'd beat the island challenges.

And while they did all that, Ash would also learn to keep the Bond Phenomenon activated at all times no matter what he did, so that he could help Greninja whenever the shinobi frog might need it. After all, they might be two people – human and Pokémon – but they were two who fought as one. And Ash wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

 **A few explanations that might interest you:**

 **\- Bond Phenomenon vs. Battle Bond: before anyone points out that 'Battle Bond' sounds better, rolls easier off the tongue etc., and I should have went with that, I decided to stick with 'Bond Phenomenon' instead to keep things coherent. This is the anime universe and in the anime it's only been referred to as the 'Bond Phenomenon'. So there.**

 **\- Pokémon genders: I openly admit to disliking using 'it' for Pokémon even if their genders aren't specified, so outside of making things up, I use any excuse I can to give a Pokémon a gender. Hence why so few of them are referred to as 'it' in this story. Pikachu has been a confirmed male for a long time now, Greninja is half-confirmed as it was only in the dubbed version of the anime (but it fit in my mind, so I went with it), Nidoking and Nidoqueen are always male and female respectively, Ash's Bayleef is a confirmed female, the Lucario from 'Lucario and the Mystery of Mew' had such a deep voice that I can't possibly imagine it being a female and Mr. Mime, while never confirmed, has always been the 'man filling up the empty space that's supposed to be filled by Ash's father in the household' in my own point of view, despite being treated more like Ash's brother (I think?) by Delia and doing chores one would usually see a girl do in anime. The only one I really couldn't say I have any indication for would be Kiawe's Charizard, hence why I went with 'it' – although let's be honest, who would believe it's actually a girl? (And no, I don't mean that as an insult or anything, so any angry girls out there, put down your pitchforks and know you almost raised them at a fellow girl. That question was simply meant to acknowledge how males and females are portrayed in media more often than not, annoying as that might be at times, depending on just how far it goes.)**

 **\- The Bond Phenomenon relying on a give-and-take dynamic: as stated in the fic, the first times we've seen Ash-Greninja, he was showed to be much stronger than without the transformation in addition to Ash being able to do things he shouldn't be able to do, like see through Greninja's eyes and share his pain. Some of those 'abilities' were boons, others might seem like a backlash, but whatever the case, I thought it only right to see it as a 'fair exchange' kind of thing. Greninja gets strength from his trainer, so it's only right he gives something beneficial right back. If the entire thing is supposed to work only between a trainer and Pokémon with an especially strong bond, then each being willing to do and doing whatever he could to help the other in equal measure only seemed right.**

 **\- Ash feeling Greninja's feelings and hearing his thoughts while the Bond Phenomenon/Battle Bond is fully active: the 'hearing thoughts' bit should be obvious, given that in the very episode in which Greninja leaves, Ash and Greninja are basically communicating telepathically while separated, though not by a very far distance. As for the feelings bit, that's my personal assumption, but one that struck me as a good possibility considering the scene where Greninja decides to go with Zygarde. It is officially the first time we see Ash-Greninja outside of any sort of combat situation, which proves that unlike mega-evolution, the Bond Phenomenon transformation can be maintained outside of battle – but that seemed as an odd thing to point out this late in the series for me, so this was the explanation I came up with for myself, because the fact that Greninja was Ash-Greninja in that scene seemed important to me. And even if it wasn't intended to be important by the writers, it still stuck out as such for reasons stated above. Whether or not it worked both ways and Greninja could also feel Ash's feelings is something I haven't thought about much, but I see no reason why it should only work one way, as I interpret the Bond Phenomenon as a two-way kind of deal relying on a give-and-take dynamic.**

 **\- Ash being the one to figure this entire, convoluted hypothesis of mine out in the first place: it is a well-known fact that Ash is often considered an idiot. I'd like to point out that that's not the case. Yes, he's book-dumb and often doesn't seem to know basic things about any new region he's in because of it (which the writers kind of need to do exposition of said region in the anime, not that that's any excuse). But that doesn't equal being downright stupid or unable to think logically, and Ash isn't and has never been either. In addition, he's pretty much the only character I could have figure things out for two reasons. One, he's the only one to actually be aware of all the facts needed to come to the conclusions he's come to (and I before him, though I'd call those 'theories' in my own case LOL), like the fact that he's an Aura Adept – a thing the anime has largely left behind a long time ago and will likely never directly touch on again, though I like to think it does so subtly/indirectly at times, like in the situation that made this fic possible in the first place. The only other people who know about Ash's potential abilities are Brock, May and Max, and obviously, none of them were in Kalos, know about Greninja or anything. The second reason was that Ash is the first person in the anime to usually think outside the box, which is what the entire hypothesis relies on. As stated in the fic, most people would automatically assume any special ability was a Pokémon's and disregard the trainer entirely. Which is understandable considering a lot of things in the Pokémon universe can, and are, explained by 'a Pokémon did it'. It only seems natural and logical to assume something odd was done by a Pokémon, since they are known to have all sorts of abilities. Considering a human might have some special ability is thinking outside the box enough, but to go from there to thinking a certain ability can only work when human and Pokémon work together? I'm pretty sure only Ash would have thought to consider such a possibility. Maybe besides some Pokémon professors, but they didn't fit the criteria for reason one.**

 **\- Pikachu zapping Ash for trying to keep what he figured out, and its implications, secret: Those of you who started watching the Pokémon anime during the more recent seasons and didn't think to stream the older ones (particularly the first one) might think Pikachu is extremely out of character in this little bit. After all, I don't think Pikachu ever zapped Ash on purpose in any of the newer seasons. However, it was a more or less regular occurrence in the first seasons of the anime, particularly the Indigo League, where Pikachu didn't shy away from using an electric attack on Ash for various, often mundane reasons: getting his attention, waking him up when something important was going on etc. He might not do it anymore, but I personally think it no stretch to think he'd do it again in a controlled manner if the situation called for it – for instance if Ash was acting particularly idiotic about something, like keeping secrets he shouldn't. You could see it as a friendly smack upside the head one friend might give another if they said something particularly stupid.**

 **I think that covers the most important tidbits that might need an explanation outside of the story. If you're interested in any other detail you didn't understand, though, feel free to let me know via PM or in a review and I'll respond and try to explain as best I can.**

* * *

 **Well, that's the end of that. Far longer than I** _ **ever**_ **thought this story would get. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed :3 Reviews are welcome :)  
**

 **See you next time in another one-shot, maybe!**


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